


We Do What We Must (Because we Can)

by Kalandan



Series: Because We Can [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brother Feels, Comfort/Angst, Drift Compatibility, Drift Side Effects, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Shatterdome Family, Swearing, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 04:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3635961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalandan/pseuds/Kalandan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yancy and Raleigh Becket are rising stars in the Jaeger Program, and full of naive youth.<br/>This is the story of Yancy living through the battle with Knifehead.  New challenges await our heroes, not everything is as it once was.  How will they deal with the cards they've been dealt?<br/>Tendo and other friends and Rangers help with the recovery process along the way.  There is a lot of growing up to be done in a hurry.  Battles with Kaiju, Shatterdome Shenanigans, and Jaeger Academy will follow in this adventure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wings of Icarus

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank Jocelyn for inspiring me to write in the first place. Also an extra big thanks for letting me use the character Carolina Olivares [(From Aurora Borealis)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1909806/chapters/4119549). If you haven't read it, I will recommend you do that too.  
> This is a story I have been building in my head for almost a year now, and the original reason I got an account on AO3. I really want to make this piece the best it can be, so please please please leave comments, questions and feedback. Its greatly appreciated.  
> Chapter 1 is a little like Knight and Day (awake, not awake) But hopefully its not too confusing. Ch 1 title comes from the Song I used to write it: [Wings of Icarus by Celldweller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfQgTz_znn0), I recommend listening to it while reading.

**February 29, 2020**

**0300**

Yancy can see Gipsy in all her damaged glory, he can still feel Raleigh in his head, the connection is fading. He’s sure the damage is causing multiple systems failures inside Gipsy. From this vantage point outside the con pod his sense of self is still lost in the drift with the jaeger and his brother.  Dully he is aware of pain in his body, something tingling in his back, his feet don’t feel quite right. He pushes the thought aside.  Their arm is still in pain, burning and sparking, and then Yancy thinks that he is going to die here, unable to help Raleigh or Gipsy. _This is it, death is going to take me_.

 

Yancy can only barely feel the drift now.   _PANICPANICPANIC_ the only thing he feels from his brother, he sends back the only thing he can think _Kill this Kaiju, you can do it_. A malicious voice in his mind adds “without me”.  Suddenly Gipsy’s AI chimes in “Right Hemisphere disconnected, emergency procedure, Transferring all controls to Left Hemisphere” and then Raleigh and Gipsy are fading from his consciousness.  

He feels so small, insignificant and alone now, out in the storm, the battle against the Kaiju continues without him.  Yancy can see Knifehead now, glowing in the darkness,  then suddenly the monster is out of his line of sight and he slams into the piece of Conn Pod he is still attached to. Consciousness flickers like a light without enough power.

 

Yancy is conscious again while the fight still goes on, but his thoughts aren’t making sense.  He knows he should be doing something, _But what?_  He sees Gypsy swing her right arm towards the beast. _Shouldn’t that be me fighting monsters?_ His confusion grows. _Rals and I used to watch monster movies all the time, is that what this is?_ He can see the profile of Gypsy and the kaiju from the shoulders up only.  Whatever he is laying on is cold, rain pouring down and sea spray leaving a salty feel everywhere.  He can feel the movements of battle.  The rumbling and shaking is making his head fuzzy and its nearly impossible to follow their movements anymore.  Rain is getting in his eyes and all he wants is the pain to stop. Awareness slips from him again.

 

Yancy’s eyes open, his field of view is narrowed to only a piece of Gypsy’s armor. His attempt to move is met with pain all over. Listening he can hear the storm and water rushing everywhere, but its muffled, out of sync with the rocking motion he feels. _I must be dead, or dreaming_ , his mind can’t grasp it, he blacks out. When he surfaces again the sounds of grinding metal and angry mechanical parts churning, electrical wires sparking.  It all seems so distant, out of place. Yancy can’t think, can’t even pull a single coherent thought together through the haze.  The grinding and sparking continues in a rhythm that, as it keeps up the same pace it lulls him back into darkness.  

 

Yancy is jarred into awareness by the sudden lack of movement, followed by rain and wind finding his face, tucked away on the side of Gipsy as he is.  Where exactly am I? He looks around again, his neck allowing a limited range of motion, but he works through the pain that runs down his back, across his shoulders and every other muscle he tries to use.  There is the heart of Gipsy above and to the right, probably one of the reasons he hasn’t frozen to death yet. Looks down at himself _I’m still attached to the conn-pod rig_. Slowly he turns his neck the other way, I must be sitting in Gypsy’s hand, testament to how addled his brain is, that it took looking around twice to figure that out.  

 

The fog in his head clears somewhat as the pain brings focus to the world. He can feel Gipsy turn, her fingers come into view from above his head while the rain stops and the wind disappears.  He listens, there is more going on here, _why did Gipsy stop?_

 

“Gipsy, Follow us. GIPSY, DO YOU COPY?!”

 

Yancy feels the gears move, _Who was that?_ The rhythmic motion picks up again, slightly slower than before, but steady and comforting.  The hand hasn’t relaxed any, even so Yancy can feel some wind blowing as they continue on.  

 

**February 29, 2020**

**~0530**

He must have slipped unconscious again because next time he is aware of his surroundings they are crashing.  Panic seizes his limbs and adrenaline pours fresh through his veins, everything is bright and noises are all around him.  Gipsy is still holding him but instead of bracing herself for the fall the hand slides across a hard surface. Yancy’s attention is caught by the light to his right, its Gipsy, she has all her lights on full throttle. On his other side are more lights, farther away, _maybe the Shatterdome?_ Gipsy is falling in what seems like slow motion. _Too close, Rals! Stop yourself! Raleigh!_ Yancy looks for that piece of his brain that is connected to this machine, and his brother, tries yelling into that piece of himself in hopes someone will hear/feel it.

 

_Must get up! Now, GOD DAMMIT, NOW!_ Yancy’s focus is flickering in and out, but he knows this isn’t going to go well for either Jaeger or Shatterdome.

 

BOOM! Everything shakes with the impact.  Gipsy is half on the helipad, she has caught herself on the edge and using the remainder as a platform for her torso.  Her core powers down, its excessively quiet and dark in the wake of the crash.  

 

Human noises pick up where machinery lets off.  Suddenly there are people running everywhere, a whole team of people are headed towards him.  He wants to wave them off, _Take care of Gipsy and Rals first!_ But his body will not cooperate and he ends up making a strangled gurgling noise with a weak wave of his arm.  His chest constricts again, pain now mingled with fear.  He briefly sees more people running not to him, but towards Gipsy's Conn Pod.  

 

Before he can protest there is an oxygen mask over his face and a wall of people blocking his view towards Raleigh.  He can’t fight these people off, his strength is draining from him so quickly he can’t even ask about Raleigh before he is overtaken.  His mind sinks away from the here and now, into the quiet recesses of his mind, to look for his brother where he can always find him.


	2. Dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tendo and the Marshall have to figure out what to do in the aftermath of Gipsy's encounter with Knifehead. Romeo Blue and Chrome Brutus make an appearance. What is the actual status of the Rangers in question?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Dangerous by David Guetta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsfrsLxt0l8) is the soundtrack for this chapter. This chapter is mostly from LOCCENT and Tendo's perspective of the incident, so if some of it is a mystery or unclear, its meant to be that way sorta. Otherwise please leave questions or comments about any confusion.

**February 29, 2020**

~0300

 

“Second discharge rattled the comms sir. I’m not getting any signatures sir.”

Pentecost Turns walks away from the station, Tendo turns in his chair to watch the Marshall.

“What do we do now sir?”

The Marshall doesn’t respond.  Tendo turns back to his station to run any scans he can think of to get more information.  After several attempts without success he turns again to look at the Marshall. “Sir?”

Pentecost drops his head to the right without turning around “Where is Romeo Blue?”

Tendo quickly brings up the information, “On the Miracle mile, 5 miles out from Gipsy’s last known position. Sir”

“Send Romeo to look into that location. Notify me if anything changes.” And he leaves LOCCENT, hands clasped behind his back, his whole body language tense and angry.

 

Tendo quickly dials up Romeo Blue. “This is LOCCENT, Romeo do you copy?”

“We read you LOCCENT, Go ahead Mr. Choi” They sound a bit anxious, but might have not caught the last part of Gipsy’s transmission.  

“I need you to go to these coordinates, we lost contact with Gipsy there. I’m not receiving any Kaiju signal but I have no idea what happened out there, so proceed with caution.” They acknowledge the coordinates and command, Tendo tracks their progress on his scanner.  

 

This is the worst part of being in LOCCENT, waiting for things to happen while Jaegers are deployed but not actively engaged with Kaiju. He runs some additional checks and asks the other LOCCENT techs to run some additional searches as well. K-watch has no additional info for him.  Now he is left to think; _What the hell happened out there?!_

 

Tendo wasn’t in the habit of biting his nails, but today seemed like a good day to start. _Nothing_ , there was nothing but the howling wind and rain outside the Shatterdome.  Running his rosary beads through his fingers and thumb another round he decided that praying might be the best thing to do at a time like this. The signals were a little shaky after the Kaiju engaged them, when the left arm went cold the comm starting to crackle but he could still hear the screaming.   _How many systems were compromised when that Kaiju ripped through Gipsy?_ _GIPSY, make it back here alive_ , diagnostics and analyses can fill in some of the unknowns then.  More importantly Tendo thought _Will the Beckets be coming back in one piece?_

 

Before he got trapped in his own thoughts Tendo shook himself out and turned to one of the other techs.

“Hey, any luck with Romeo over there?”

“They’re approaching the last known coordinates shortly, you want to message them?”

“Nah, you do it, I’m just going to hover.”

“Romeo, This is LOCCENT, status report?”

 

Crackle and static on the line “...that’s confi~crackle~ed.”

“Romeo repeat, we didn’t get that.”

“CrACk~~  LOCCENT”

Tendo is holding his breath at this point. “Gages, this is Tendo, Repeat please. You’re breaking up”

The other tech gave him a look, like ‘I offered you to do it before’, Tendo half shrugged, not really apologetic just a concession that the tech had been right to ask.  “sorry” he whispered, attention back on the comms.

“... uh, Not much to report. ~SIZZLE~  Nothing here but char ~~crack~~ on the rocks out here” Bruce reports.

“Any signs of Kaiju or Gipsy?” Tendo has this horrible lead weight in the pit of his stomach. The screaming from the transmission earlier playing over in the back of his mind. His palms are starting to sweat.   _This wasn’t right, none of this is okay._

“No signs of either, Cheif” Seems Romeo is still calm despite the Kaiju.

“Keep looking around.” Tendo bites out the words. The bad feeling spreading through his body, his heart sinks into his stomach.

The other tech takes over again “Be aware of the weather as you search. I’ll keep you posted of any changes, and report anything as you continue to search…” Tendo trails away back to his own station.

 

Slowly lowering himself back into his chair he snaps out of a daze when a ping pops up on one of his holo screens. Pulling up the information Tendo’s heart springs back into his chest, this might be good news. The Screen showed a dot moving parallel to the coastline back towards the city.  The sensors are still being affected by the weather and can't give him additional info, just that it's moving, and quickly.

He messaged the Marshall that there is movement.  Pentecost is back and leaning in over his shoulder in a heartbeat.  Pentecost reached over to the mic, grabbing it while pressing the button to message the jaeger.

 

“Romeo, this is the Marshall.  We have an unidentified signal moving about a mile from your current position.  Its coming towards the city, move to intercept.” Releasing the mic the Marshall focuses on Tendo.  “Chief send them the coordinates” Tendo quickly taps out the information to the Jaeger.   

 

“Yes sir!” is returned in Unison.  Tendo thinks _Romeo was built tough, but not fast._   _If they wanted to catch up to it, whatever it might be, they have to move quickly to reach it before the bogey makes it to the shatterdome._

 

Tendo turned and looked at the Marshall, microphone off, “Sir, should we deploy Chrome Brutus in case its the kaiju?”  The Marshall glanced at the LOCCENT Chief and back at the screen.  The blinking Unidentified is wavering on course, turning lazy looking circles. Tendo and the Marshall stood watching it for a few tense minutes. They continued to wait for Romeo to catch up.  The bogey was starting to double back on its path, back towards Romeo, perhaps they don’t have to worry about it getting to the city before the jaegers. Even so, with lives on the line it is better to be prepared, but that is the Marshall’s call, not Tendo’s.

 

“Get them suited up and ready if we need them, but don’t deploy just yet. Keep them back as a last line of defense.”

 

“Yes Sir.”  He quickly tapped into the console and pulled his mic close, “Chrome Brutus suit up.”  

Chrome’s crew is waiting for the order, they are suited up, in the conn pod in less time than average.   

“Chrome Brutus, Ready!”  Tendo hands the controls over to their own tech for the pilot to pilot connection...

 

In the gulf of Alaska Romeo Blue is slugging it out with the hurricane in an attempt to catch up with the bogey.  Some strange sort of luck is on their side, the bogey is weaving and wavering on its course making it almost easier to catch up to.  Not easy by a long shot, but an attainable goal rather than the fleeting hope to catch up the Gages were afraid of getting caught in.  

“LOCCENT this is Romeo, We are nearing bogey location, do you copy? ~sizzle~”

Tendo practically jumps on the comm, “Loud and Clear! Any Visuals yet?”

“Not yet but sensors put us in range,” The Gages slog through another couple hundred feet of angry ocean before there is anything remotely worth seeing. “Oh God!”

Tendo hears them both swearing breathily, after running to catch it “Report!” Still nervous, antsy and getting on the verge of irritable, Tendo thinks _OUT with it already!_

“Romeo Reporting, We have visual confirmation of bogey.” Trevin pick up next “Tendo, its Gipsy,~crackle~ she looks bad, can you reach her from the comms?”

Quickly and furiously typing at his keyboards and any display available to him tries to reach the wayward Jaeger.  Fruitless results, but attempt had to be made. “Romeo, her comms are offline or damaged, you’ll have to use the loudspeakers and horns to get her attention.”

Pentecost is back “Get yourselves and Gipsy back to base as fast as possible.  Understood Rangers?”

“Yes Sir!” “Yes Sir!”  “Have the hangar bay door open when we approach” Bruce advises, “Is Chrome Brutus active? If not get her up and ready, she might need to play catch with our friends here”

Tendo tries to remain calm but thinks _What?! I know Gipsy lost an arm but that we need two jaegers to catch her, this sounds bad._

 

The LOCCENT is alive with activity, comms chatter like the middle of a Kaiju group deployment.  Romeo is Shouting orders at Gipsy, and after a couple of attempts Romeo convinces her to follow them back.  Chrome is waiting on initiating neural handshake until the right moment.  No need to wear out all three jaegers and Rangers.

 

Time seems to pass differently after that.  Tendo shakes himself awake when one of the other Techs is waving a hand in front of Tendo’s face.  “Woah, okay I’m awake now.  Whats up?”  

“Do you want to page the Marshall?  We have a full med crew waiting for them to arrive along with three sets of strike troops ready.  All sitting down in the bay, and Romeo just reported they are coming into range of visuals in another 10 minutes or so.  Thought you should be the one to notify Pentecost…” Trailing off sheepily, the tech takes a step back.  

“Yeah, thanks I got this.” Shaking his head again to get coherence back into his fuzzy brain.  

 

Tendo is struck with the sight the Strike Troopers Helicopters start sending back to LOCCENT. _That Mass of metal can’t be Gipsy!_ Its as big as a Jaeger, and as cumbersome as one, but her arm is missing, there seem to be more damage, the closer she gets to the shatterdome the more comes into view.  Chrome is online by the time the lights from the shatterdome reach Gipsy and Romeo.  Tendo’s jaw just drops when he sees all the damage, wondering _How did you boys make it back like that?!_

Then he notices her right arm is being held close to her side, protectively clutching to her chest.  At this point she doesn’t follow directly behind Romeo towards the bay, instead Gipsy wanders farther left to the helicopter pads, and despite Romeo yelling commands at her, she holds course and slowly unfurls her right hand and lays it out on the helipad, crashing into the tarmac as she goes.  Keeps walking as the back of the hand leaves a gouge in its wake, pushing the hand as close to the bay doors as possible before she walks all the way into the edge of the helipad.  Chest Plates crack, and sparks are flying all over the tarmac as Gipsy crashes herself on the edge.  Chrome and Romeo come to her aid and stop her short of impaling herself on the shatterdome helicopter bay..  

 

Tendo is busy, which is good, keep his mind off the aftermath, _those are my friends in there_. The med teams are deployed to the helipads.  Shivers run down Tendo’s spine, but he still has a job to do.  Shakes himself and gets everyone in LOCCENT’s attention, being chief comes with responsibilities.  Tendo takes control of the situation.  “Okay, Get Romeo and Chrome to coordinate, Have them hold Gipsy until the pilots are cleared from the pod. When that is done have them bring her into bay…” Checks the split screen feed of bays open in the shatterdome “Take her to bay 4.  There is room for three Jaegers, and they can hold her up until the factory crew can hook up the support rigs.” Turning to the runners that just showed up in LOCCENT “You, get the factory and J-Tech crews up that are needed, get the area clear...”  LOCCENT is chaos of sending orders and getting reports back. The Shatterdome was a buzz and people were running around, the morning shift of LOCCENT started showing up before the whole thing was done.  

_Time seems to have a strange quality tonight,_ Tendo thinks. It takes a blink of an eye and what feels like hours to pass before he sees Romeo and Chrome carrying, partially dragging Gipsy inside the Shatterdome, where LOCCENT has a front row view of her.  All of LOCCENT is standing now, gaping at the sight before them.  Gipsy is missing part of her conn pod, the left arm is gone as well as large parts of the chest and shoulder on the same side. She looks so small in comparison to the active Jaegers, with their lights on and active motion.  Gipsy is a shadow of herself from before.  

 

**February 29, 2020**

~0600

By this time Tendo is shaking from the amount of caffeine he has consumed to keep focused and awake through the whole ordeal.  Coordinating Jaegers out in the Pacific is tough, but trying to get two Jaegers transfer one disabled Jaeger in close quarters without the aid of crawlers or J-hawks is an entirely different kind of situation.  

Patting the next shift Chief on the shoulder “Good Luck.  I’m off to medical to check on the Beckets, so call if you need me.”

She nodded, but was already talking to someone else on her headset, placing her hand over the mouthpiece she added “Wish them our best, and try to get some rest yourself.”

He waved it off, “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Winking mischievously and he was out the doors.


	3. Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yancy has some time to reflect on his life and actions. What has helped shape him and his brother? He has memories and flashbacks of important events. And is that his thought or Raleigh's floating around his head? Some of the hardships of being this connected to another person, along with stepping in and out of each others minds.  
> What is Yancy's darkest nightmare, and is it coming true?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please listen to Waves by Mr Probz for this chapter.  
> It set the feeling of this chapter. Personally I hear this anytime I am thinking of drift scenes, so it might come back again.  
> Please leave feedback and reviews, and Thank you to all the lovely readers that have done so already! Keep it coming, I hope to break 100 hits on this piece soon!

**March 1-6, 2020**

 

Yancy’s consciousness registers a flash of lightning running through his brain.  Its not of his brains doing, but like a storm way off in the distance it can be seen and heard from far away.  _Something's Coming_ he thinks, where he is, or what is going on are still unknown, but it doesn't currently bother him.  


 

He can tell that this is a dream, or maybe a drift hangover. Everything is as vivid as real life but the color seems off, and it feels like everything he says echoes strangely.  Its like he is thinking it at the same time as someone else, but slightly out of sequence.  Yet he can’t help living through these memories again.  They are pleasant and familiar like playing the in the surf, and feeling the sand between your toes.  It was comforting to let the memories lap over him, and connect him to something warm, full of emotions.

 

He is 10 years old again, running around his parents house in Anchorage.  Being chased by Jaz and Raleigh.  She has such little legs, but so much energy she makes up for it. He runs around the corner of the house, looking over his shoulder at his siblings in hot pursuit.  He doesn’t see the obstacle in his path. Yancy hits something solid but not totally immovable, then he is on the ground, looking up at an outline of a person.  The sunlight behind them makes it hard to distinguish who it is.  A helping hand reaches out and grabs Yancy’s and pulls him back up to his feet in one swift motion.  Without even a second thought or hesitation Yancy is off running again, Raleigh just coming around the corner, and Jaz not far behind. 

 

It changes, memory fades and blurs, another memory floats to the surface in its place.  This one more vivid than the last.  He is driving, Raleigh sitting in the passenger seat.  The scene is tense, miles sit between the two brothers even if its only one seat width.  Raleigh is sporting a cut lip and a black eye.  He’s holding a slip of paper in his hand, knuckles white, where they aren’t bruised.  Raleigh continues to look out the window and avoids eye contact with Yancy.  This has happened before, Yancy is there to help bail Raleigh out, but this time it went too far.  Yancy was called back to the school to pick his brother up for fighting with another kid.  Yancy hates playing parent with his siblings, but if mom and dad aren't going to pull their weight on it he’ll sacrifice this for his siblings' good. 

 

Yancy sighs heavily “Well, you going to tell me what happened? Because I don’t believe the same bullshit the counselors always spout.” Yance spares a glance over towards his brother.  Shoulders tense, body language closing him off, but he knows the kid, just have to wait him out a bit.  So next light he turns left instead of going straight home.  See if the kid will say anything.

Raleigh picks his head up from resting on the door frame of the truck.  But no words come out.  

_ Okay kid, you want to play hardball?  _ quick glance at the fuel gauge tells him he has about ½ tank, he can keep driving around to get him to open up.  

After another 10 minutes of this extended silence Raleigh sighs too. “You going to drive around all night? or we going to go home at some point?” 

“Depends if you’re going to tell me the truth or not.”

Raleigh flinches slightly, and after another breath-y exhale in a very small voice says “Don’t tell Jaz, she’d only hate me more.”

_Now we're getting somewhere_ , Yancy quickly finds a place to pull over, the Mcdonald’s parking lot is the first thing he finds. Pulls in and parks hastily and turns the truck off, because he isn’t going to have a heart to heart with baby bro without looking him in the eyes.  “Explain.” All attention focused on his brother, who is finally looking at him instead of out the window.  


“Not until you promise not to tell her. You have to promise.”

“Rals, what are we? in middle school?!”

“Yance” and he pins Yancy down with a serious stare.  

Yancy rolls his eyes but understands this is serious to Rals, “Okay, I promise not to tell her. Now will you tell me what this was about?  Its not like you to break kids faces for no reason.”

“It wasn’t just any kid… It was Justin Lapkowski.”

“As in the kid that came to dinner two nights ago?  The guy Jaz is dating Justin Lapkowski?! Oh what the hell man! You can’t just beat up every guy interested in her.” Yance runs his hand over his face, this was shaping up to be an even bigger mess.  Raleigh just crosses his arms over his chest, suspension slip still held firmly in his left hand, frown on his face. Yancy reads it as the 'don't start now' face.  “Okay, I shouldn’t make assumptions either. So what is the rest of the story?”

Raleigh relaxes his posture a little bit.  “He wasn’t interested in her, just thought she was a pretty face" He pauses, angry about the next statement, he spits the words out like they are venom.  "Thought she might be easy.  He tells me this like he's bragging about winning a game or something.  Then goes on to say that he was planning on doing it whether she was willing or not.” Yancy’s head snaps up to focus entirely on Raleigh’s face.  Searching for a lie or deception, or anything that says he wasn’t just itching to beat the guy up just because.  

 

Finding nothing but truth in his brothers face Yancy slumped down farther into his seat.   This is a fine mess, my bro is trying to look out for our lil’ sis and yet I have to keep the secret that her bf is an scum bag… great.  Another long inhale “So that’s why you slammed him into his lockers, broke his nose, and kept punching him until they pulled you off him.” Slowly shakes his head, ponders what to do next.  “I see why you didn’t want to tell Jaz...  But she’ll find out you did this to him, one way or another,” Serious stare focused on Rals again.

“I know that, but she doesn’t need to know why.” Rals looks out the window again. “That creep isn’t going to say anything and if he does go anywhere near her...” Makes a fist with his right hand, and shakes it with a mean look on his face.  Yancy understands exactly what he means, because after hearing this if Raleigh hadn’t already beat up the punk Yancy would.

 

Time to lighten the mood , “Okay I get it.  So whadaya say to a snack? My treat, since you spared me trouble of sticking my nose into Jaz’s business.”  Raleigh perks up at that, turns around to actually look at Yancy, his face beaming with little kid excitement.  Its a little out of place on a 15 year old, along with the lopsided smile he uses to avoid reopening his split lip.  

Raleigh chirps back “Mind if we do drive-thru? I don’t want to explain this,” gestures to his face, which looks like it needs some ice to say the least.  

“Pwwwft, Please, I wasn’t going to take you in there.  People will start accusing **me** of beating YOU up.” Yancy throws a play punch at his brother's shoulder.  Raleigh, spirits lifted goes along with the play. 

“OWWW, oh no you’re at it again! Sibling abuse!” Raleigh makes wild gestures of fake outrage alternating to mock terror. 

Yancy turns the truck back on.  Before he pulls out of the parking space he has one more thought. “Hey Rals,” waits for him to look up from his mock terror.  “You might want to lay low for a while around the house. I know Dad won’t really care, but Jaz will be pissed at you.  Maman might be upset if she sees your face like this, so just be smart, okay?” Raleigh looks away out the window again, withdrawn in the blink of an eye.

“Yeah” is practically mumbled into the window.  

Yancy hates to see his brother like that.  “Come on Kiddo, cheer up, you’ll be your regular ugly self real quick.  Now, whadaya want? Hmm? I’ll even throw in an ice cream if you’re good,” Yancy smirks, because if he doesn’t know how to cheer the kid up in an instant his life would be over as he knows it.  The smile is back, and Raleigh is returning to his usual animated self.   Yea, we’re going to be alright. 

 

The scene is gone in a flash, swirling and changing. Yancy remembers bits and pieces of vacations on the beach, arguments with his father, quiet moments with his mom, triumphs in wrestling, his first kiss, followed by other experiences.  These all float by with familiarity and no pressing need to be reviewed, but there are others floating around in this dream space. 

 

His perception shifts into another time not so long ago, Yancy is looking up at himself, this memory isn’t his but Raleigh's that he picked up in the drift.  Yancy is standing in the living room of the Anchorage house.  “I’ll be back with Jaz in a bit.  You want to come with?”

He (from Raleigh’s view) replies “Nah, I’m good. See you when you get back.” slumped on the couch flipping through one of his sisters’ magazines, with a book about WW2 on the arm of the couch ready to pick up.  

“We’ll see you when you get back.  Richard should be back shortly too.” Uncle Charlie says from the armchair across from the couch.  Its New Years Eve and Charles has been spending the holidays with Richard and the family.  Yancy glances up at his former self as he leaves, then turns his attention(as Raleigh)  back to the magazine, just flipping pages getting an idea of what might go through his sisters head.  But he wouldn’t be caught dead by Jaz looking at it, so quickly he finishes viewing the latest cosmo, or vanity fair that she had picked received.  Making mental note of the fashions, and style to expect what was in, and keep a sense of what girls consider “In” or the latest trend.  That task quickly finished he places the magazine back where he found it, on the bottom of the mail pile.  

Flopping back on the couch he looks up at his uncle, before picking up his book.  “You going out with Dad tonight?” Simple enough question.

Charlie turns his head from looking out the window to see Rals.  “Huh, Uh, oh yeah.” He shakes his head out a couple of times and then looks back out the window. Raleigh cocks his head to the side as he looks at his uncle, considering him for a moment.  An idea striking him suddenly.

“What do you do when you two go out?” He’d never even thought about it before, let alone asked.

 

Charles still in a daydream looking out the window shakes his head out, and slowly turns to look at Raleigh.  “huh? Oh your father and me? Several places, but depends on what we feel like.  Why’d you ask?” Now Charles gaze is on Raleigh, the dreaming quality gone, replaced by an alert and attentive focus on his nephew.    


Raleigh shrugs his shoulders, “dunno, never really thought about it before, I guess.”

Charles rests his elbow on the chair arm and his chin in his hand.  “well then, unless you have something particular you wanted to know that answer will suffice.”

Raleigh, admires his uncles wit, so isn’t put off by the response quickly says “Oh, wait, what I really meant was... uh, do you go gambling, or something like that…?” He pauses, and considers how lame that sounds even to himself. “Or do you go, to other places?" pausing to work up the courage to question this of his uncle,  "places you’d not admit to being?” He suddenly finds something interesting about his shoes.  


Now Charles picks his head up and furrows his brows looking at Raleigh, who won’t meet his eyes.  “what would make you think that?”

Raleigh doesn’t answer right away, his skin feels too hot and his palms are sweating, he hasn’t been this uncomfortable with his uncle ever.  But the question still hangs in the room like black cloud.  Raleigh clears his throat, shuffles his feet a little more, picks at the couch and mumbles “I don’t want dad to hurt mom.” Now Charles eyebrows shoot up in surprise, finally Raleigh looks up from his feet, “I don’t want to hear her cry.” 

“Wait, your mother has been crying? When did this happen?” Charles is up in a flash and kneeling in front of Raleigh on the couch, looking up into his eyes.  Charles is searching for the truth in Raleigh’s face.  

 

Just then they both hear the front door close loudly, the sign that Richard is home.  “I don't know what's up, but you leave this to me Rals. Okay? We'll get to bottom of this.” He ruffles Raleigh’s hair and stands up to go meet Richard.  He sits there staring at the two men, talking quietly by the front door, before his uncle waves to him, with a wink and says “We’ll catch you later, behave yourself while we’re gone.” Rals just nods mutely, kinda confused. He stays that way, frozen.   For how long he doesn’t know, until Yancy and Jaz walk in through the same door that Charles and his Dad had left through. He looks up at Yancy and Jaz, who are arguing about something trivial, when they realize he is just sitting staring through them. 

Yancy stops, cocks his head in a similar fashion to the gesture Raleigh made earlier and says to him “Whats up kid?”  

 

The memory dissolves from there back into a sea of quick flashes and images of people and places, smells and sensations.  A swirl of emotions ebb and flow in front and behind him, all around him now, enveloping him up into the silence. Darkness swallows him up, taking him away from this shared headspace, this dream like drift he has been experiencing.  He thrashes a little at first, not sure he knows what is going on.  But then he feels so tired he quickly succumbs to it, relaxes into the oblivion that is unawareness. Time has no meaning here, so he doesn’t note its passage.  He only has a sense of sequence, because the darkness is always the in between.  

 

Yancy surfaces again into another dream, not sure if its his or his brothers’ at this point. But having been in and out of Raleigh’s head enough that either way it doesn’t trouble him.  More flashes of emotion attached to images and memories. Fear, hate, love, pain, happiness, sadness, anger, and hurt swirl around him before being solidified into an image of Gipsy Danger.  

 

She is walking in the ocean, nothing but surf and ice in her view for miles. Yancy is not inside Gipsy, but merely observing her.  Yet even from a distance Yancy feels waves of panic and anger swirling from her.  She is whole but there is no where for her to go, nothing for her to fight, no reason for her to be here.  Gipsy turns around to look in every direction, before resuming walking forward, the whole time looking in every direction possible.  Yancy in his random displacement wants to go to her, comfort her and tell her they will be alright, he is back.  But he has no body, he has no way of getting to her, so he is stuck watching her helplessly.  He sees this go on, it doesn’t stop. She walks, she looks, a feeling of fear and panic growing inside Yancy's mind. He wants to look away, to make it stop, to help Gipsy but he can't.  To do anything but be stuck watching this unable to reach out, wanting to end these feelings that encompass him. 

 

Until finally Gipsy starts running, keeps running in any direction, making random turns but the scenery doesn’t change no matter how far she goes.  Gipsy runs until she falls off the invisible ledge of a changeless landscape, falling under the water.  Yancy wants to shout out, to help, to stop her fall under the waves.  Yancy wishes for a body to help somehow, he dreams himself into this nightmare, forming a hand and an arm, then two, and shoulders, a neck, his head and face.  Finally with a face he can blink, to try and stop seeing this horror playing out in front of him.   Raleigh! Gipsy! I’m here! He blinks again and he is inside the con pod of Gipsy, water pouring in from the corners, edges that shouldn’t leak without being damaged.  But now that he is here, he looks left to find an empty spot where Raleigh should be, and nothing but the motion capture rig.  Then he realizes its not Raleigh’s nightmare, but his own he has trapped himself in.  He blinks again and again to make himself wake up or drift away from this or anything else but to be here alone.   I can’t shape this, or influence it, where the hell am I?!  he wonders, as he hopes this will end soon enough.   Bring me back to the memories, I can live in those,  not this , no more of this!

 

Darkness followed by silence soon find him again.  He doesn’t fight it this time, but floats away to a place where he won’t think or remember anything.  Away from the empty feeling he hates more than anything.   


 


	4. Teardrop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rangers get back to the Shatterdome after the engagement with Knifehead. Not everyone is happy with the outcome of this event. Infact half of Chrome Brutus has a bone to pick with the Beckets, while Romeo Blue has some other ideas. PR makes and appearance, as well as a sleepy Tendo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went in a totally different direction than what I planned. Ilisapie turns out had different plans, along with adding in Bruce and Trevin, who weren't supposed to be in this chapter at all.  
> Huge thanks goes out to Jocelyn, who's OC Carolina Olivares finally makes an appearance! More from her soon.  
> This chapter's sound track is [Teardrop by Massive Attack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAVUPu7URbc) (bonus if anyone can figure out the connection between the song and the doctor in this chapter.) This is the first chapter with my own OCs. I will post more about these ladies on my [Tumblr.]()

**February 29, 2020**

**~0800**

 

Ilisapie and Zeke are antsy to be cleared from the post combat exam, _we never really left the shatterdome_ , she thinks angrily, _it’s a waste of time_.  She hops off the exam table, pacing back and forth in the small space.  Zeke is laying back on his exam table, fingers laced together resting on his stomach, eyes closed. To most people he looks calm, composed, Ilisapie knows better, she’s still in his head.  Her own thoughts untangle themselves from his, they sort out who is who in their own way.  She brushes up against her copilot repeatedly as she paces, the slight touch reassures her.  

 

They wait for the doctor to arrive, 10, 20, 30 minutes goes by.  Ilisapie watches through the sidelights of the exam room door as medics, doctors, and nurses run up and down the halls of medical.  A flurry of activity, _damn the Beckets, getting into a mess without so much as a call back to the Shatterdome for help!_ Zeke is focused on breathing, it helps to center him, his thoughts still mingled with hers, but as two minds instead of one. She peers out the side light again, sees a doctor approaching and runs back to her exam table, hops up while grabbing at Zeke’s arm. Zeke sits up in response, opening his eyes, un laces his fingers to place his hands on either side of himself.

 

_Procedures must be followed, or chaos ensues_.  Ilisapie keeps telling herself over and over, like a mantra.   _Procedures must be followed, or chaos ensues._ When finally the door opens to admit the doctor, if the coat is anything to go by,  she is an average height woman, with shoulder length blond hair, pale skin, and a shrewd look on her face, her lips drawn in a tight line.  She quickly pulls a pen out of her lab coat pocket and clicks it open, glances up at the pilots for a brief second, before looking down at her clipboard.  Quick and deft movements set her into action, she seems as impatient to be done as much as Ilisapie is.  The Doctor moves the exam along quickly, without an inkling of bedside manner.  Ilisapie continues to calm herself by thinking _Procedures must be followed, or chaos ensues._

 

Finally the exam is over, not even a circuitry burn between them.  Doctor Volakis, Ilisapie catches the name from the badge she is wearing, the doctor didn’t bother to introduce herself, is writing up the post combat report while the rangers get dressed.  A thought crosses her mind, and impulsively she voices it.

“Um, excuse me doctor but have you heard any word on the other Rangers? Gipsy Danger’s pilots?”  Ilisapie fastens her belt and clips her own badge back on her hip, _must maintain composure_.  Zeke looks up at her from his seat, _Still agitated?_ he thinks at her. A slight incline of her chin the only response to her copilot.

 

“Hn?” Doctor Volakis pauses in her writing, looks up briefly then holds up her finger, in a wait one minute type motion.  Ilisapie waits, Zeke still finishing sorting out all the things in his pockets to the right location on his person.  “Ranger...:” looks down at paperwork to grab the name, “Flint, I just woke up in order to do this post eval because every other doctor already awake was pulled into the mess they have going on…” Makes a flailing hand gesture in the direction of the OR/Intensive care suit of the med bay, “So no, I don’t know what's going on.” Ilisapie nods, _sorry I asked_ , but before she says anything the doc’s expression softens a little bit.  “I don’t know what happened but we keep several doctors on call, and a minimum of 3 on duty at any time.  So that I was called up to do this means they have the attention of at least a half dozen doctors.  Whatever is going on, they are getting the best medical attention this shatterdome has to offer.” Ilisapie’s eyes widen in surprise, _Oh_. Zeke smirks at her, _knew they liked being the center of attention_ , Zeke sneaks the thought by her.  Ilisapie barely manages not to roll her eyes at him.

 

“Sorry I can’t give you any more information.  Rangers Flint, Amarok, you are cleared for duty, now get out of here so I can finish my damn paperwork.” Both rangers quickly get the heck out of the cramped exam room.  

 

Once out in the hallway Zeke turns to his copilot, raises his eyebrow in question.  She understands perfectly what he is asking, “How could they be so STUPID?!” Zeke knows her too well to be surprised by the outburst.  They walk down the hall towards the ER and Intensive care area of medical, conversing as they go.

 

“I’m not sure it was entirely in their plan for this to happen, I mean yea attention, but not this kind of attention.  The adoring crowds and Jaeger flies are one thing, but getting all of medical’s attention? Damn Kaiju, always mucking up things.” He tries to be lighthearted, but Ilisapie isn’t buying it, he tilts his head to the side, looking back at his cousin.  

 

“Kaiju killing is our JOB! Defend them all you like but they weren’t where they were supposed to be, that’s how this mess happened! I was in the War room same as you, you can’t deny they didn’t follow orders.”

 

Zeke let out a sigh, “You know that if they hadn’t been there the Kaiju might have made landfall.  And that is an entirely different mess to clean up.” He levels his cousin with a serious stare.

 

She finally huffs at him. “But what were they thinking?! They endangered themselves and their Jaeger for what? A glory chase?!”

 

Zeke shakes his head, “I can’t say I know what they were thinking, I don’t drift with them.” He taps her forehead, “but I can tell you need to calm down. If anyone is going to give you more information yelling at them like a crazed woman isn’t the way to get it.”

 

She huffs again, as close to conceding he is right as she will manage, then looks up and sees they’ve reached the Intensive care area. _I’m going to find out what happened_ ,  she won’t wait for the post combat review, _that could be days from now_ , after the tacticians have analysed the heck out of it. _I want the story from the horses’ mouth!_ Zeke steals a sideways glance at her, he’s still listening in on her thoughts, fading but still there. Its like someone is walking in and out of the same room while talking to you the entire time, it is muffled but not gone entirely yet.

 

There is a lone figure sitting in a waiting chair at the end of the hall.   They are slumped over against the arm of the chair in the small waiting alcove. Ilisapie thinks that looks uncomfortable, but as they get closer they see he is a part of Gipsy’s crew.  Zeke takes up post across the hall from the alcove, leaning on the wall, Ilisapie goes up to the sleeping figure, looks him up and down once.  Badge on display from his front pocket, Choi, Tendo, LOCCENT Chief, _oh he must be waiting on his rangers._

If he was on duty when the call came in he has been up for almost 24 hours, _no wonder he is sleeping in a cramped plastic waiting chair_.  She nudges his foot with hers, see if she gets any response.  Nothing, so she shoves him in the knee with her knee, harder this time.

 

“What?! No, get out of there! Huh?” Tendo comes back to himself, looks up at Ilisapie standing next to him, “oh Hi Ranger Flint.”

 

“Oh you know me? Today is just full of surprises.” She quips back, trying to cover the fact that without his badge, she wouldn’t have known who he was.  “You like sleeping in the med hallway or expecting someone?”

 

“There’s only a dozen rangers or so on this coastline, easy to know all of them.” Tendo rubs his hand over his face, trying to wake up some more.  “But anyway, I was hoping to get an update on the Beckets. Seems I didn’t manage to drink enough coffee to stay awake long enough.  What you doing here? Haven’t you two been cleared from med by now?”  

 

Zeke pushes off the wall and comes to stand next to his cousin, “Yea, we were but we figured on checkin in on the other rangers. Like you said there aren’t too many of us, got to look out for each other.” He levels a stare at Ilisapie, like its a challenge to her to defy that thought.  She shakes her head, _no im not gonna take the bait, not here anyway_. Zeke picks up “have you heard anything?”

 

Tendo runs his rosary through his fingers, a practiced habit,  “no, nothing yet, just that they went in for surgery.  I haven’t heard since then,” he squints down at his watch, “that was hours ago now.”

 

“Well Mr. Choi, why don’t you go find someplace better to sleep and we’ll let you know if anything happens? I’m sure your bed misses you too.”

 

Tendo barks a rough laugh at that, “I’m sure its more comfortable too, now that you mention it.  Promise me you’ll let me know if anything happens?” He looks them both in the eyes, first her then Zeke.  

 

“You attached to your rangers much?” she’s said it before thinking, and wants to cover her mouth after its out, _damn that sounds awful._

 

“Same class at the academy, so yeah, we’re close.” He doesn’t seem to have taken offense from her comment, _close call of foot in mouth syndrome_ , Zeke thinks at her. _I know, I know, I’ll play nice from now on._

“Well don’t worry, we will let you know if we hear anything.” She assures him.  Tendo pulls a small scrap of paper out of his pocket, scrawls something on it and hands it to Zeke.  

 

“Here’s my number, Please call me if ANYTHING happens, I hate being the last to find out news… it sucks.” With that he leans forward then stands up. Zeke is pantomiming catching him if he falls over.  Tendo waves him off and grins, “I'm not that bad, just going to get a couple hours sleep, then I’ll be back.” With that he shuffles off down the hall, after he’s out of sight it gets quiet.  Thick walls keep most of the noise out of the med bay, this as close to silent one can find in a Shatterdome.  Ilisapie is still agitated by this whole evening, Zeke is far calmer than her, so he sits down in the chair Tendo vacated.  He pats the chair next to him, an invitation for her to sit, she shakes her head, _no, I’m going to pace for a bit, work off this feeling_. Zeke shrugs in response, he slouches down into the chair some more to get relatively comfortable.  She paces and he sits, pulls out his cell and starts playing a game on it for a time.  

 

Minutes turn to an hour, and still they wait.  Zeke puts his phone away and looks up at her, she is alternating between leaning against the far wall, and pacing back and forth.  Right now she is leaning on the wall, staring at her feet, contemplating the situation and possible outcomes.  When they both hear a noise and look down the hall, its the pilots of Romeo Blue; Bruce and Trevin Gage.  

 

Zeke is first to react “Morning gentlemen, fancy meeting you here.” He stands up as the brothers approach, he offers his hand for a friendly handshake.  Bruce is on Zeke’s right side and grabs his hand first, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

 

“I should say the same to you two, what are you still doing up?” Bruce replies, Trevin shakes his hand next with a nod of the head, the less talkative brother it seems.  

 

“Oh you know, waiting out the hot headed ones,” Zeke shrugs his shoulders, makes a face like it's a joke, but everyone knows there is truth to it.  

 

Ilisapie steps forward, “Gentlemen,” shakes both their hands and nods to them, “What are you doing here so early, or late as the case may be?” She’s starting to lose track of time.

 

“We have to look out for our own, don’tcha think?” Bruce answers, then gestures to the doors to the ICU, “Any movement?”

 

“Not since we arrived, Tendo said they were in surgery.  Which was several hours ago.” She shrugged, out of information.

 

With a flourish of hand movements Trevin pulled from his pocket the PPDC issued deck of cards, pulled them from their well worn box and fanned out in his hand all within a blink of an eye.  

“Care to pass the time with some card games?” Trevin challenged, with a wink at Ilisapie.  

“That beats being bored.  I’m in,” Zeke was already pulling the chairs together, “Ilisapie, you going to play or ..?” Leaving her previous pacing behind, she nods to them, grabbing another chair to pull up.

 

“What we playing then?” She smiled wickedly at the Gages, this should pass time quicker.

 

After playing several rounds of war, egyptian ratscrew, go fish, and several other card games some of the rangers were starting to fade.  Bruce seemed just as bright eyed as when the showed up, Ilisapie still sharp as ever, but Trevin and Zeke were losing badly.  Zeke decided not to play another round in favor of watching.  Shortly after that Zeke starts to nod his head forward onto his chest. Then pops right back up. Ilisapie smirks at her partner, he does it several more times before she decides to wake him up.  “Zeke, go to bed, you’re no good to me as a zombie. Go, get some sleep, you too Trev.” She pokes Trevin, from his position in his chair, head held up in his hand.  Bruce pokes his partner in the side.

 

“Listen to the lady, Trev, we got this.”

 

“hnnn, no ‘m good.” Zeke puts up some resistance, but not much.

 

“Zeke, you’re already asleep. Go to bed.” She levels a look at him, one that says ‘Go before you piss me off’, and he gets the message loud and clear.

 

“Okay fine, fine, but I’m sending the strike troopers in if you aren’t in bed by dinner time.” He playfully hits her in the shoulder, all seriousness gone, his tired brain grasping to stay awake.

 

“That’s fair, now go before I call them to come get you!” She swats back at him but he has stepped away.  He grabs Trevin’s arm on the way through, and pulls him up to follow suit back to the ranger quarters.  

 

“Huh, but the lady!” Trev protests. Bruce rolls his eyes at his brother.

 

“She’ll be fine, I’m here too, you blockhead. We’ll be fine, now go, before I have to carry your sorry ass back to quarters. I’m holdin’ on to your cards too Trev. Nothin’ you can do bout it!” Raspberries at his brother and swats in his direction, but Zeke has pulled him out of range.  

 

Zeke and Trev stumble down the corridor, waving at their partners before they turn the corner in the hall and are gone.  Ilisapie is calmer now, but her mantra floats through her head again; _Procedures must be followed, or chaos ensues._  She shakes her head, clearing the thought and focus back on the new game Bruce is dealing out between them.  

 

“Spending time in someone else’s head, doesn’t mean you understand them all the time, huh?” Bruce casually asks, only rangers would understand it.

“Yeah, that or sleep deprivation is even worse on mental capacities than previously thought.” She smirks at the thought.  Zeke may be an adventurous kinda guy, but without his 6-8 hours of sleep he starts to unravel quickly, that he stayed up this late after a deployment is a testament to sure willpower.  

 

The two go a couple more rounds of cards before they too give up on it.  Passing into companionable silence, Bruce seems to have something else on his mind too. Ilisapie gets up and paces the hallway again, _WHY would rangers be so foolhardy?!_  She must be more tired than she thought, when she realizes she just spoke some of her thoughts out loud. Her head snaps up to look at the other ranger when he speaks.

 

“I’m sure they had their reasons, at the time.” Bruce is now reclined in the chair, looking up at her, she doesn’t want to debate this with him.  

 

But she doesn’t have much choice at this point. _Momma always said finish what you start_. “Yea, I just can’t imagine what they would be! Follow orders, or do whatever it is they did, and risk their lives, the jaeger, and possibly the whole coastline!” She  takes a deep breath to calm herself before she gets out of control.

 

“They took down the Kaiju, so whatever else their motives were I don’t know. They did the primary job of a ranger, better than we managed.” Bruce continues to look completely bored with the conversation, not rising to her anger.  Although it seems some guilt has settled on the older ranger.

 

“And how would you know that?! You weren’t there, you were at your post, where they should have been too!”

 

“Well news flash, they weren’t firing off their plasma casters for fun!  And we had to find them in the gulf, otherwise I’m not sure they would have made it back at all.  So yea, I can tell you they didn’t screw themselves up that bad without help from a Kaiju.” His eyes now flash a challenge at her to try and counter that. She huffs, and continues her pacing. "besides, if they didn't kill it, we would have heard about it hitting the coast somewhere else."

 

He has a point, but she still is unwilling to bend in her stance. Time silently ticks away, minutes into hours. The silence now wrought with tension.  She sits in the chair farthest from where Bruce is still reclined.  They wait, both wrapped up in their thoughts.

 

**February 29, 2020**

**1200**

 

Ilisapie is just about to give up and leave for bed when the doors open and two tired and sweaty nurses walk out.  Bruce is startled out of his reclined position, sitting up so quick he rocks the chair back against the wall. They look up at the ladies, both quickly stand up, and vie for attention.

 

The first one out the doors is taller than Ilisapie, her dark hair pulled back in a bun that is starting to work its way loose, her skin a warm bisque tone, her cheeks still flushed, and sweat sticking to the edges of her face.  The other nurse is much shorter, a very petite frame, a beige almost almond skin tone, jet black hair pulled back in a ponytail, she is addressing the first nurse.  

“... but don’t you think its unusual at all?” Turning to look where she is going and almost bumping into the Rangers in the hall the nurses both stop short. “Oh hi there, you looking for someone?”

 

“Um… “ Ilisapie looks between the nurses and Bruce.  Then musters up her courage to keep going “News on the rangers if you have it?” Ilisapie is unsure what to do otherwise, confronted with people suddenly without having any real plan.

 

The taller woman levels a look at Ilisapie, crossing her arms over her chest, “You are…?”

 

“oh excuse me! I’m Ranger Flint, pilot to Chrome Brutus.  This is…”

 

“Bruce Gage, pilot of Romeo Blue.” He curtsies to the ladies, honest to god curtsy!

 

Ilisapie looks back at the nurses from watching Bruce, continues “I just thought I should find out how they are before leaving.. medical…” She trails off, losing some of the focus she had.

 

“Ah, well, you suppose we could tell them Priyasha?” The smaller nurse addresses the taller one, puts her hands on her hips.

 

“Yea, I suppose, since you’re both rangers. But don’t go telling the whole shatterdome! That is the last thing we need, crazy rumors spreading.” The taller nurse sizes up both the rangers before continuing. “You two must have been waiting all morning. Serious about getting information on the other pilots huh?”

 

Ilisapie and Bruce both nod in unison, no verbal response needed.  The shorter nurse prods the taller nurse. “You going to tell them? Or do I have to do it?”

 

“Kaida, you’ll tell them way too much if I let you say another word.” Heavy sigh follows, a downcast look before meeting the Rangers eyes.  “Not much to say really.  Gipsy 1 is stable, and Gipsy 2 is in surgery now. Both Becket's took some heavy hits it seems, possible head trauma.  We won’t know to what extent until after they regain consciousness.”  

 

“See that wasn’t so bad, now was it Priyasha?” The petite nurse, name was Kaida, smirked up at her compatriot.  

 

“Really?!” Ilisapie can’t help it, she didn’t anticipate the response, despite waiting for hours. She blinks rapidly a couple of times, then looks over at Bruce, who doesn’t look as surprised. She takes it in, shuffles back to the chairs, sitting down heavily.  Now her anger has completely left her, and the hours spent waiting catch up with her.  Bruce carefully sits down next to her, looking concerned.

“Are you alright miss..?”  The nurses look to Bruce.

“Ranger Flint” He reminds them.  

“Oh where are our manners? Sorry to startle you Ranger Flint, but the other pilots are in good hands.” The shorter nurse tries to reassure.

Bruce looks up at the ladies, “I’m sorry but could I trouble you ladies for names?” He deflects some of the attention off of Ilisapie, and for that she is grateful, she will compose herself in a moment.

“Oh!” the petite nurse exclaims, “I’m Kaida, Kaida Tanaka, ER tech extraordinaire.  And this here is Priyasha Pillai, she is the head of physical therapy and also an ER tech!”

“Thank you Kaida for giving them my entire life story, but can we get back to Ranger Flint?” Priyasha rolls her eyes at her friend, then all attention is back on Ilisapie.  

 

“I’m fine, really, just didn’t expect... “ she trails off with a hand gesture to both the nurses, to the information they imparted.  

 

Priyasha puts her hand on Ilisapie’s shoulder and kneels down in front of her, looks her in the eye.

“I won’t mince words, the Beckets have a rough road ahead of them.  But you can probably visit them in the next day or so, after they have both been out of surgery long enough to know they aren’t in danger anymore.” Priyasha’s face softens while looking at Ilisapie, “Why don’t you get some rest, and come back in another day or so.  You might be able to see them for yourself then.” She smiles up at Ilisapie, so kind, and reassuring, that the ranger can’t help but smile back. She nods in affirmation to the nurse.

 

“Yeah, thanks I think I will do that. You’ve been great, lovely meeting you Priyasha,” she looks up at the other nurse still standing over her friend, “and you too Kaida.”  Priyasha stands up, and looks over both Rangers still sitting there.

 

“Well I’m sure if you come back to visit we will meet again. Come on Kaida lets hit the showers before bed, I reek of sweat.” She sticks her tongue out after sniffing herself, “Catch you around Rangers!” As the two walk down the hall, another figure is walking towards the little waiting area.  Bruce looks up at the woman approaching.  He smiles brightly and stands up, embracing the woman in a bear hug.

 

“Carolina! Long time no see!” The older woman gives him a half hearted smile.

 

“Bruce you big oaf! I’ve been assigned to the same Shatterdome for almost 2 months now, and you haven’t once come by to say hi?” She smacks him in the shoulder, Bruce responding with a kicked puppy dog face.

 

“Well I’m sorry we didn’t bump into each other under better circumstances,” he glances at the doors then back to Carolina, “we just heard about their condition.”  He looks away, ashamed to be giving her bad news. He retells her what they just found out, and Carolina sits down in the seat next to Ilisapie.  The two look each other in the eye, concern clearly shown on both womens faces.

 

Carolina seems to think better of letting her professional demeanor leaving her just yet.  She sticks her hand out to Ilisapie “I’m not sure I’ve properly introduced myself yet.  I'm Carolina Olivares, the PR rep for Gipsy Danger’s crew.  You must be Ranger Flint, I’ve heard so much about you from Greg Joyce.”

 

Surprise lights up Ilisapie’s face once again, “Oh I hope he said only good things, PR hasn’t always been kind to me.  Hah.”  The little bit of merriment seeping out of Ilisapie as soon as it came.  “Well I am sorry we couldn’t greet you with better news.”

 

“Don’t worry yourself over my predicament, although when those boys wake up they are going to hear it from me.” Some of the enthusiasm returning to the older woman, her back straightening out, her chin lifts, her shoulders slide back. Ilisapie did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever Carolina was going to dish out.

 

“Ouch, I hope for their sakes they wake up sooner rather than later.  They are in for one hell of a talk.” Bruce shook his head in that “poor sorry souls” kinda way.

 

“You would know.” Carolina winks at Bruce, a half smile crossing her lips. “But you two should go meet up with your other halves in the mess hall. Its lunch time, and I’m sure if you’re here now you missed breakfast.  I think the rangers get the remainder of the day off to rest before the regular schedule picks up again tomorrow.” Bruce groans a little, Carolina raises an eyebrow at him.

 

“We can’t get another day of sleep?”

 

“Well don’t waste your time talking to me and go get some rest. Shoo! That goes for you too missy.”

 

“Huh? Oh, right! Oh Right, where is that number?” Ilisapie searches her pockets for Tendo’s number.  

“Who’s number?” Bruce asks.

“Gipsy’s LOCCENT cheif… Choi something?”

“Tendo! Oh don’t sweat it, I have his number,” Bruce pulls out his phone and starts walking down the hallway, texting as he goes.  

Ilisapie quickly stands up and hurries to catch up with Bruce, who is almost to the bend in the hall.  “Nice to meet you!” She shoots back over her shoulder to the lone figure sitting, Carolina waves back, dropping her hand back to the chair arm before the rangers even round the corner. _Hmm, something is weighing on her it seems._

 

“So want to grab some food before heading back to quarters? See if our other halves made it back alive?”

 

Bruce smiles at her and slides his phone back into his pocket. He half bows while walking, “Lead on madam! After you,” She playfully swats at him, all animosity forgotten.  She grabs his arm and pulls him along. He seemed to easily bring out the playful side in people.  She decided to stick to that for now, there would be plenty of time for somberness ahead, but for now, _lets eat and sleep, and be happy we’re alive._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and review! This chapter was hard to write and I would love some feedback, did it work out? Did I miss a consistency issue? Did I contradict myself? More to come!


	5. Warriors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yancy dreams of another time, his mind fights to wake him and face reality. Meanwhile Carolina Olivares and Bruce Gage keep vigil over both brothers. The Beckets aren't out of the woods yet, Raleigh still in the ICU, while Yancy starts causing trouble for those looking after him.  
> Time to introduce another person into the mix, who could it be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for this chapter is [Warriors by Imagine Dragons ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP9I8ZUwKpc)  
> Another huge thanks goes out to everyone reading and reviewing this! thanks again for your patience.  
> For the Record Carolina Olivares is an OC I borrowed from Jocelyn, Not enough thanks go to Jocelyn for letting me use her.  
> For the Record, I do not speak French, I'm learning it, but I did use some online sources to help out with that dialogue. So if I have made an error please let me know.  
> Please comment if at any point you are confused, I would rather a million questions to answer than to lose readers.

**March 6, 2020**

 

If drifting with a jaeger changes you in any way, its that sometimes you think more like a machine. Yancy realizes this when he starts to slowly becomes more aware of his surroundings, at first all he is aware of is the sounds.  Monitors beep and machines click, there are hushed whispers on occasion, but he doesn’t have the energy to open his eyes yet, or even really think about processing more information.  Yup that is the computer part of his brain, data processors, gipsy’s still under his skin.  

The sensory input fades as his thoughts flow around him, lulled back into the drift dreamscape he was in before.  He’s in a different time, another memory.  He’s in a hospital,his surroundings appearing only as he gazes on them.  He is standing in the hallway, he turns his head, and the nurse looks up at him from her seat behind the desk.

“Can I help you?”

Yancy feels slightly confused being transported back into this time, he looks around once more, before responding, “I’m looking for… Dominique Becket please.”

He is somewhere in between remembering this and actively living it again, _my mind is playing tricks on me_ , this has already happened.

The nurse says something and points down the hall to Yancy’s right. He nods and thanks her.

He starts walking down the hall, reality as he once perceived it is warping around him, the hall seems to stretch on forever like a hall of mirrors illusion, doors on either side, repeated over and over again, as far as he can see.  He walks for what feels like hours, but is no time at all before he blinks. Upon opening his eyes again he finds himself standing in front of one of the many doors.

Yancy is confused again, _how did I get here?_ Looks around again, finding the hallway changed to be a normal corridor in a hospital.  Ignoring the feeling that he should be paying closer attention to some detail. _Am I forgetting something?_ he reaches out to open the door, but hesitates.  He listens to hears voices behind the door, he can’t make out what is being said, spoken in hushed tones.  Yancy withdraws his hand from the door knob, debating on what to do.  He Steps back to look down the hall again, as if that hallway holds the answers to the mysteries of life.  He doesn’t want to eavesdrop, but he can’t help but hear a hiss come from within, looking at the door again Yancy is frozen by indecision.  

The spell is broken when the door, he’s just staring at, opens.

“We’ll discuss this again, Dominique. I’ll look into it, but I don’t agree with you. I know my brother better than that!”  Uncle Charlie is scowling at the patient, not looking where he’s going. Charlie almost knocks his nephew over, but latches onto Yancy to avoid falling. “Oh Hi Yancy, come to see your mum?”  Quickly the scowl is replaced with a false smile.  The two quickly grab each other by the shoulders to regain balance. Charlie quickly swings them around so Yancy is now standing in the doorway and Charlie is in the hallway outside.  

“You leaving already?” Yancy remembers asking, and feels like a little kid, which he isn’t anymore, he’s twenty, when this happened for real.

Fake smile plastered on his face, Charlie replies “Yeah, I have some things to do.” Charlie looks past Yancy into the hospital room, the scowl fleeting across his face for only a moment. “I will see you soon though, probably have dinner with you and your siblings tomorrow night.” Charlie pats Yancy on the shoulder, waves to Dominique and says bye. Leaving Yancy slightly dazed in the doorway to his mother's’ hospital room.

He  is overwhelmed again, to go into the dark room or to retreat and run away from this whole situation.  Part of him knows; _this isn’t real, it's just my mind recreating memories to cope with…._ with what he can’t quite recall. Something bad enough his mind refuses to grasp fully what it was, the thought slipping away faster than Yancy is willing to even try and chase.  

Back in the hospital room he walks into his mother’s room.   He finds a chair pulled up near her bed.  Numbly he sits down, staring at his hands, afraid to look up, a fear of her disappearing lodging in his gut.  He finds the dirt he left under his fingernails, slowly removes it with another nail, still unable to find his voice, or courage.  

His skin prickles with heat, shame burning in his gut, sweat making his hands clammy.  Swallowing hard he yells at himself, _IT'S YOUR MOTHER, NOT A MONSTER or anything like that…_ He closes his eyes tight to banish the idea, pulls his head up straight and opens his eyes.  There she is, looking at him with concern and love.  She is in a hospital gown, monitor wires sticking out from it in multiple directions, oxygen line under her nose, her face greyer than he wants to admit.  There’s an IV line in her hand, yet she is sitting up, the bed supporting her there.  A flush covers Yancy face, he wants to look away, to forget this version of Maman.  But he can’t, it would hurt her feelings to do something so selfish. But she is his mother and knows him too well.  She can guess why he is turning pink, she sighs, a look of remorse overcomes her.

Yancy wants to fix it, “Maman, I...” But he doesn’t know what to say to cover his shame. They lapse back into silence, both look down to the bed, or their hands. They avoid holding eye contact too long.

She breaks the silence, “Yancy, Je veux vous parler de votre frère.” (I wanted to talk to you about your brother.)  

Yancy's head snaps up sharply to look at her now, all former thoughts gone.  She only ever speaks in French when she doesn’t want to be interrupted. Or maybe it’s because she is afraid of being overheard by the wrong people.   “Maman, pas besoin de s'inquiéter…” (no need to worry…)

Dominique cuts him off.  “<Yancy, I'm not worried. You boys have always been good together.  I know you'll be alright, as long as you stick together.  Can you do that?>”

Yance blinks at her, he doesn’t understand why she is asking this now. Yet, if she wants him to watch out for his siblings he will.  Yancy slips into English, Raleigh was always the one to speak French with Maman the most.  “Maman, I’ll look after both of them.  Don’t worry about us, we look out for each other. You need to worry about yourself, get better so you can come home.” Yancy is pleading with her a little bit, only because he can’t fathom life without her.  His future self may deal with it, but the 20 year old sitting here in this memory he doesn’t want to think about it anymore.

She grabs his hands with her own, the simple act difficult for her.  But she holds onto him until he looks her in the face.  “Promets-moi de vous et Raleigh sera rester ensemble." (Promise me you and Raleigh will stay together.)

Yancy tilts his head to the side, perplexed at her persistence with Raleigh, _but what about Jaz?_ He ask her, “But Maman, what about Jaz and Dad?”  

She lets go of Yancy’s hands now, lying back into the bed, deflated somewhat.  “< I have plan in-case… I want to make sure my children are taken care of. You are old enough to take care of yourself.  I just want to make sure that my family will stay together.>”

This Yancy can assure her is always true. “Don’t worry about us, we’re big kids, we can even remember to brush our teeth before bed.” He smirks at her, knowing that was once an issue with Jaz, she hated to brush at night.  He tries to steer the conversation toward happier thoughts.  “The doctors said your cancer was going into remission, that’s good news.” For the first time since entering the room he cracks a smile.

She sighs, and swivels her head a little from side to side, Yancy’s stomach drops like a stone, the blood drains from his face.   _What now? I’m not sure I can take bad news_.

“Je suis désolé Yancy, mais je ne suis pas sûr que votre père peut tolérer beaucoup de cette." (I’m sorry Yancy, but I’m not sure your father can tolerate much of this), she gestures up and down at herself, then encompasses the rest of the room.  “Il est un homme bon …” (He is a good man…) her thoughts trail off, Dominique smiles at a memory.  She is lost in the thought, Yancy waits for her to continue but she doesn’t.  Yancy wonders _What are you trying to tell me maman? There is more to this, but what?_ Yancy waits.

He waits too long, because the room begins to dissolve around him, his nightmare returning to him.  He looks around frantically, tries to hold onto something, anything before it all dissolves.  He reaches out for his mother now, crying in this dream “MAMAN! ne vont pas Maman, s'il vous plaît!” But he can’t catch a hold of her, as his dream evaporates like smoke into nothing.

Yancy starts to surface from the dream, the drift, and recesses of his own mind.  He can hear that he is in a hospital again, but this time he wills himself to open his eyes.  An eternity passes as he gathers the courage and strength to re-emerge into the real world.  When he opens his eyes he has to squint and close his eyes before he gets accustomed to the light.   _I must still be on drugs_ , there is a blur to his vision.

Despite the haze he can see, thoughts start to bubble to the top of his consciousness.  He blinks several more times before the figures focus enough to be recognizable.  On his left is Carolina, next to her, sitting in a chair farther back is someone Yancy can’t name immediately.  Carolina looks up to meet his gaze and jumps slightly, noticing now that Yancy’s awake.  He blinks again and she is gone, replaced with doctors, poking and prodding him, buzzing around his bed.  Before he he even tries to do anything they are all over him.  They speak soothingly, seeming to ask his compliance.  He blinks and nods his head a couple times to their requests.  A nurse approaches then he is choking, wanting to gag and scream but he can’t they are pulling devices and machines off of him. They replace those machines with different ones, they help soothe him, prod him a couple more times.  Eventually they mark down several things on a clipboard and are gone again.  

Yancy takes a deep breath, exhales out through his nose slowly, then turns his gaze back to the left, Carolina has returned. She smiles wanly at him, he notices her more clearly this time. Abuela’s eyes are bloodshot and red rimmed.  The big brother in him wants to reassure her, he inches his hand to the edge of the bed, where her hands rest on the rails.  She notices the gesture and meets him halfway, grabbing his hand on the bed. Abuela clasps his one hand in both of hers.  Her grip is strong, and steady, he likes it a lot, the strength she always has, how she carries herself.  Her smile widens, he wants to tell her he’s fine, don’t be worried, but his throat won’t comply, too raw from disuse and abuse by whatever they pulled out of him.  Whatever he was going to say to her dies on his tongue, his thoughts become distracted by his own body.  

His attention now focused inward.  He tries to look down at himself, that greets him with pain between his eyes.  He closes his eyes and feels his way through his body, head hurts but senses seem to work.  He tests out little muscle movements here and there, trying to gauge the extent of his injuries.  Shoulders sore but intact, feels both his arms, tingles from the IV shooting up his left side.  Torso, _well something is off there_ , but he can feel all his extremities so it can’t be too bad.  Yancy tries to flex his glutes, finds more shooting pains in his right side and down his leg, but the left side seems sore but whole.  He pushes it all to the back of his mind again, deal with this after… _after what? There was something I am supposed to do._

He opens his eyes and looks back up at Carolina, now there is another person next to her. Its the same person from the chair, he’s a ranger too.  The face is so familiar but Yancy’s mind is too scrambled to remember right now.   

Yancy’s face must betray his confusion, because the ranger says, “Don’t worry Becket, rest up.  We’re keeping an eye on you and baby bro.” The ranger reaches a hand out to pat Yancy’s left leg, through the sheets Yancy can feel the heat of his hand.  Its reassuring even if he can’t remember who this person is.  

Carolina nods at that. “Bruce here has been a real help.”  She turns towards Bruce, wrapping her arm around Gages' back.  Yancy feels like he is slipping away again, the haze is encroaching in on his vision again.  She squeezes his hand once more, “Rest, we’ll be here.”  In only moments he has run out of the energy to keep his eyes open, slipping back into oblivion.  

* * *

**March 7, 2020**

**Icebox Medical**

 

Carolina looks down at the resting form, still holding his hand.  His breathing evens out again, Bruce squeezes her shoulder before turning back the two steps to the chair.  Yancy looks a little better with fewer tubes in him.  But he still has tons of monitors, IVs and other tubes attached to him.  She continues the debate with herself, did she do the right thing when she contacted the Becket family?  Carolina had been afraid Gipsy’s pilots wouldn’t wake up after multiple surgeries, transfusions and in Raleigh’s case, one too many close calls with death.  

She stays that way for several more minutes, lost in thought.  When she comes back to herself she turns around, addresses Bruce “I’m going to check in on Raleigh, then be back. Let me know if I miss anything.” Ranger Gage nods in acceptance of this statement.

She leaves the private room, walks down the hallway to the intensive care suite, slides the door open.  Carolina was no stranger to anyone in the shatterdome, but courtesy mandated her to check in with the nurse on duty.  She is surprised to see Kaida sitting behind the desk, the petitie woman writing furiously on a clipboard. Carolina finds it odd, thinking _Kaida doesn’t usually cover the ICU._  

“Ms Tanaka, how are you?”

“Oh!” Kaida jumps a little in her seat, startled from deep concentration it seems “Oh, Carolina! Fwwwo, I’m just covering a bathroom break, can’t have the ICU unattended. Now can we?”

“no I suppose not, Mind if i look in on my boy?”

Kaida raises her eyebrow in question, then her face lights up “Oh, Yeah! Did you want to gown up and sit with him? or just observing today?”

“Just a quick observation, Yancy’s been in and out of consciousness.  I wanted to check up on Raleigh’s progress.” She leans on the transaction counter, stretching over the desk toward Kaida, before whispering “Anything you can tell me?” She smirks at Kaida, knowing Ms Tanaka can tell Gipsy’s PR rep anything.   _Heck, Yancy listed me as their emergency contact last go around of PPDC paperwork._

Kaida eyes soften, she shuffles some clipboards and then flips a couple of pages before responding “Looks like his cranial pressure has been stable since this morning.  He might be cleared in another day or so.  If so he’ll probably be transferred to the ward with his brother.”

“Oh, that will save me some peace of mind, seeing them together.” Carolina blows out a heavy breath, stands back up straight, “thanks again.” She walks away from the desk, down two doorways on her right to a viewing window beside the door.  Carefully she places her hands on the glass, peering through to see the occupant inside.   _Raleigh looks so pale_ , and gaunt laying in a bed hooked up to monitors, gasses and fluids of all sorts.  His normally vibrant blonde hair half gone. The medics had to shave off most of it for one of several procedures.  His heart currently running steadily, but thinking of when they first got him out of Gipsy, Carolina shivers internally.  

A flash of the chaos that ensued in those hours after Gipsy Engaged the kaiju, the screams and yelling.  Carolina shakes the dark thoughts away, focusing instead on the steady rhythm of Raleigh’s chest rising and falling.  She leans her forehead against the glass. _Did I do the right thing?_ She wonders again, still waffling back and forth between agreeing with herself and berating her previous self.   _I shouldn’t worry about it anymore, what’s done is done._

After spending time watching him she heads out.  Carolina waves to Kaida, who is whispering with the new on duty nurse.  PR rep work still needs to get done, and no one is going to do it for her.  She thinks about heading back to her office for a time when her phone buzzes.  She catches the call, hastily looking at who is calling her, sees its Bruce. She picks it up.

“Olivares, you better get back down here.” She can hear something scuffled in the background.

“What is going on Bruce?!”

“He’s speakin’ French!”

“What?! Oh nevermind I’ll be right there!”, she runs back down the short distance to Yancy’s room in the Post op suites.  

Knocks on the door despite the call, the cautiously opens the door.  Yancy is still laying in the bed, but he is awake and wild eyed.  

Bruce Gage, a seasoned Jaeger Pilot with 2 kills to his name, as well as years of military experience is out of his league with one incoherent French speaking patient. He turns from his spot beside the bed, trying to get Yancy’s attention, to look at the door, Carolina is still holding open.  He is befuddled, lost like a little kid again looking to abuela for help.  She would laugh if the situation wasn’t so tense.  She lets the door close, swiftly she steps up to the bed on the side opposite Bruce.  

“..ne vont pas maman, s'il vous plaît , s'il vous plaît rester…” Yancy’s voice is rough, nothing like his usual self.  He sounds so raw, like he has a cold.  Which is probably why he is oscillating from speaking to muttering to himself.  He is focused on Bruce, who clearly has no idea what he is saying. Carolina listens to the snippets of speech.  She grabs both of his hands in hers, which brings his attention to her finally.

“Nous sommes ici, on ne va nulle part. (We are here, we are not going anywhere.)” She squeezes his hands for emphasis, not too hard though.  

“…vous allez rester ? Juste pour un petit moment ...” Yancy still questions it, but the frantic edge is fading, he is looking at Carolina now, and for the first time actually sees her.  

“Nous serons ici , ne vous inquiétez pas. (We will be here, do not worry.)”  She smiles, nods to Bruce then back at Yancy.  She smiles reassuringly, trying to get her message across, anyway possible.  He seems to come back into himself, only to be grasped by an overwhelming fatigue.  She sees a moment of bright eyed Yancy before he blinks it away to return to the semi fevered stupor he has been in and out of for the past day.  He drifts into a quiet trance of sorts before succumbing to sleep.

Not long after Carolina’s mind wonders.  She relaxes from his bedside and sits down in the waiting chair.  Bruce collapses into the chair next to her, utterly strung out from the ordeal.  Carolina pulls out her phone and quickly types out a text.

“Who you messaging so furiously Abuela?” _Bruce always was the nosy one._

“I’ve got a thought, and some work matters to attend to next.” She replies without even looking up from her phone.  

Bruce lets out an appreciative whistle, “Wow, PR rep, caretaker, concerned guardian, French speaker and text master extraordinaire! Is there anything you don’t do Abuela?” Bruce sits back in his chair while folding his hands together.

Without missing a beat she says, “Windows and gutters, I won’t clean them.” still rapidly composing and reading a slew of messages.

Bruce snorts in response.  There is a light knock on the door, Priyasha opens the door just enough to look in, sees Bruce then Carolina.  

“Excuse me, Mrs Olivares, there is a, um, guest? Here to see you.”

Carolina stops mid composition, looks up at the tall nurse, brows furrowed together, “Who?”

“I think you’re expecting her. A Jazmine…”

Carolina cuts her off, with a startled “Oh!” while jumping up from her chair.  She almost trips over Bruce on her way out the door, then realizes to ask, “Where is she? Is she here?”

“She is at security by the main gates.  Wasn’t sure if she had clearance to come here or not...“ Priyasha trails off as Carolina rushes past her and closes the door.

  
Bruce slouches into his chair once more, “Never dull here…” He says to no one in particular, since now he is alone with an unconscious patient. 


	6. Love Bites (But so do I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome Jazmine, she has an attitude only a cocky young college student can pull off and she isn't afraid to use it.  
> Ilisapie still has a bone to pick and Carolina is acting mom of the Becket brood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by the song [Love Bites (So Do I) by Halestorm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmkHqUwa4zg) If you see errors please let me know. Enjoy my version of Jazmine Lapierre/ Becket. She thinks without speaking a lot more than some of the other characters.

**Love Bites (but so do I) (by Haelstrom)**  
**March 8, 2020**

 

“You’ll have to wait here Miss,” Guard looks down at her passport, “Lapierre. Someone is on their way to sign you in.” He makes a gesture for her to have a seat in one of the chairs in the small room. She nods, but waits to get her passport back under the transaction window.

She waits but the guard doesn’t seem to get what her small grabbing hand motion means. Finally she speaks up “Can I have my passport back please?” She thinks sarcastically _I’m not standing here for my health, dude_.

“You’ll get it back after you’ve been signed in. Please sit down and wait.”  
Letting out an annoyed huff of air, Jaz turns on her heel and sits down making as big a show of it as possible. _They contacted me and I’m the one that has to wait?! I go through all the trouble to get here, my brothers supposedly near death, and I have to WAIT? DAH! Typical Bureaucracy._

She mulls over her surroundings for a moment before pulling her coursework out of her backpack. _Might as well make the most use of my time_. She sits quietly reading, takes notes now and then. Eventually she hears voices in the office, followed by a door opening. She picks her head up from her book, anticipating someone wanting her attention she book marks her page, packs her notes and book back into the bag. She hears the hushed voices still, before the guard is back at the window.

“Miss Lapierre,” Jazmine gets up from her seat, throws her backpack over her shoulder, then approaches the window, “Your escort is here to meet you.” He hands her Passport back under the window to her.

“thanks” she mumbles, looking past the guard to see the other guard at the other door talking to a latina looking woman, with black wavy hair. She’s wearing a PPDC uniform, looking a little rumpled right now. Jaz puts it out of mind quickly, as the guard is shoving a paper in front of her to sign. Once she’s handed the “don’t tell people what you see here” general disclosure the guard buzzes the door to release her from this temporary holding cell.

Stepping through the door Jaz is greeted by the woman she saw through the guard room office. Jaz gives her a quick once over, _how old is this woman?, this woman hasn’t slept in what appears to be days, if the clothes, hair and red eyes are any indication._

Before Jaz can muse any other thoughts reality breaks through. The woman offers her hand to Jaz “Hello Miss Lapierre,” Jazmine offers her hand in response, still skeptical of just about everyone. “I’m glad you decided to come in response to my summons. I’m Gipsy Danger’s PR rep, Carolina Olivares.” with that she firmly shakes Jazmine’s hand and releases it. Turning around to the guard office window once more she says something to them before addressing Jaz again. “You have anything besides your backpack?” Making a head gesture to the bag on Jaz’s shoulder. Dumbly Jaz checks herself out, shakes her head in the negative, this is all she has on her.  
“Alright, you plan on staying in Anchorage for a while? Or is this a limited visit?”

Jaz is drawn out of herself again by the address. “oh um, I was going to just check in on Yancy… “ she trails off, _How much do I need to tell this woman?_  
“You have a place to stay tonight?” Carolina waits.

“um,” thinking on the spot she debates with herself for a moment before responding, “I was going to stay in a hotel for the night, then head back to Meadow Lakes.” Calculating in her head, _that the bus from anchorage to Wasilla, and then the bus depot takes about an hour, and if Uncle Charlie is in town she can call him_. Or just hitch a ride from one of the neighbors, she has a key to the house anyway.

“I will find accommodations for you for tonight at least then, no need to worry about a hotel. Your stay is paid in full by your family association. You have other bags somewhere?”

“Oh, I have more stuff at the house, I traveled light. Didn’t think I would need to stay for too long. Your message sounded serious, but the news made it seem less severe than that. So…” she trailed off lost between what was fact and fiction.

“Ah you can thank and blame me for that on both accounts. Come on, follow me. We can walk and talk at the same time.” Carolina walked swiftly through the corridors and bays of the shatterdome, weaving her way through with ease. “I had to down play it to the media, while in reality its a mess. Yancy is lookin better, he’s been semi awake on and off for a day or so. He might even be alert next time, which is great news.” Practiced steps led her without having to really pay attention to her surroundings. Jaz was mostly focused on the woman’s words, not paying much mind to her surroundings as she followed. “Raleigh, on the other hand, is still in a medically induced coma.” Carolina let out a breath that seemed to deflate her whole being.

Jaz wanted to see her brothers, she didn’t want to start up any issues, despite the spiteful thought of _They are big kids, they probably could have avoided this whole thing_. Trying to be as polite to this woman as possible, Jaz hesitantly spoke up, “Can I see Yancy?”

Carolina nodded in affirmation and kept of walking, they stopped in front of what Jaz assumed was the medical ward. Carolina held the door open for Jaz, “Wait to the right of the door, I’ll sign us in.” The youngest becket did as she was told. Carolina grabbed a clipboard off the desk just inside, waving to the nurse behind the desk with her pen hand. “Hello again Yasha. How long you on tonight?”

The pretty, bronze skin toned woman with dark hair pulled up into a neat bun nodded to Carolina. “I’m on all night, I just came on duty before I came to get you. You two going to check on Raleigh next?” the nurse waved to Jazmine over the desk, surprising Jaz, I _don’t know this woman, but best to be friendly_ , so she waved back.

Carolina glanced over her shoulder to Jazmine, “I checked in on him earlier, but we might make a visit.” Then she leaned over the desk to the nurse and whispered something to the nurse. The only response Jaz could see was a quick nod of head, the bun jumping back into place following it.

Carolina put the clipboard back on the desk and gestured to Jaz to come with her. Jaz quickly stepped to catch up with the older woman. They strode down the hall to a room on the right. Carolina walked in and Jaz followed. She stopped abruptly at the entrance to the room. There was her brother, but he looked smaller than she remembered him. Her big brother had several machines and monitors all around him, IV line and some other things Jaz couldn’t identify. Yancy lay there, looking like all the blood had drained from him, so pale and sallow faced. _Okay, just breath, its only your brother, no need to freak out._

The youngest Becket then looked up from Yancy to notice the rest of the room. There was a friendly looking man, in PPDC Uniform, just getting up from the chair next to the bed. He stepped forward to greet Carolina, then extended his hand to Jazmine.

“Hello, Ms. Becket, I’m Bruce Gage, I work with your brothers.”

“Its Lapierre.” She blurts out before thinking twice. With that she lets go of his hand as the smile of his face changes to one of confusion.

“Oh, um, pardon my assumptions… “

Before he can dig any other holes Carolina saves him. “Bruce, thank you for watching over him, why don’t you go and rest up? Spend some time with your brother? Hmm? I’m sure he misses you, or at least would like you to show up to the Kwoon sometime soon.” She nods at him, like there is some kind of hidden message there.

“Right, well it was nice seeing you Ms. Lapierre. I’ll see you around I’m sure.” With that he bows slightly and exits the room.

Jaz stares at the prone form again, before her trance is broken by the other woman in the room. “Jazmine, please have a seat. I’ll leave you alone for a bit if you like. Call if you need anything.”

Jaz nods her head slowly as she sinks down into the chair recently vacated. _Name Bruce Gage sounds kinda familiar… from the news perhaps? Or last time she read anything about the Kaiju war. Oh well, worry about that later._

_Oh Yancy! What did you do? hmm, how’d you get into this mess? I thought you were the most decorated jaeger pilot?! What is this?! You and Rals down, for over a week now?_ She quickly did some math, more than a week now. _Well guess there is no sense arguing with myself, but when you wake up you’re getting a piece of my mind!_

She sits quietly for a while like that, simply watching Yancy’s breathing and miscellaneous monitors. _This could be a while._ Jazmine once again makes the most of time away from school to study and read.

Its late when Carolina comes back into the room. By this time Jaz is fighting to stay awake in her chair, reading her psychology textbook. “Ms. Lapierre?”

“Oh Hi, what’s up?”

“I’ve made arrangements for quarters for you for the night here in the Shatterdome if you’re interested in sleeping on something more comfortable than a hospital chair.” The older woman giving her a indistinguishable look, _maybe this isn’t her first rodeo with a Becket_.

“Oh um, really? That might be alright for tonight…”

“I’ve arranged toiletries, a spare set of clothing, and I will take care of getting your pass updated so you can come back to this shatterdome with less fanfare than it took to get you here today. We can sort out the rest in the morning, after you’ve rested.” _Yup this woman has dealt with my big brother, never try to discuss anything of importance while sleepy, it will only bite you in the ass._

Jaz sits there slightly stunned for a moment before packing her book back up. She pauses at the bedside for a moment, before gently squeezing Yancy’s hand. The two women leave Yancy’s room quietly.

Carolina walks a little slower through the halls now, _she is probably just as tired as I am_. They don’t walk far from medical before Carolina shows Jaz into a room containing a simple bed, desk, chair, and door to a small ensuite bathroom. Clothes are laid out on the bed, along with toiletry neatly lined up on the desk. She is rather surprised.  
“Wow, Thank you.” Is all she can think to say.

“No worries, I take care of my Rangers. Its the least I can do. I’ll come to collect you tomorrow morning around 0800. I can show you around, get you fed and plan what to do from there. Are you…”

“Hmm?” Jaz slowly wonders at the half formed sentence.

“No nevermind, we can talk about it after you sleep.”

“Okay. Goodnight Ms. Olivares.”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
**~0800**  
**March 9, 2020**  
**Anchorage Shatterdome, Temporary Quarters**

There is a quick set of knocks on the door. She answers quickly, already anticipating the call, but is surprised to be greeted by an unfamiliar face. Its a native alaskan looking woman, round face and dark hair, full lips below a petite nose. She is wearing a uniform similar to the one the man from yesterday was wearing.  Jaz is staring at the woman, a little perplexed at the change of plans.

The woman clears her throat. “Good Morning Miss Becket”

Rolling her eyes despite herself, she corrects her “Its Lapierre, oh forget it, just call me Jazmine.” She harshly sticks her hand out to shake with the woman before adjusting her backpack again. Jazmine looks like she fits in better, wearing a set of PPDC sweat pants and sweatshirt, her own clothes packed in the bag.

“Nice to meet you Jazmine, I’m Ranger Flint, of Chrome Brutus. I am here to escort you to breakfast and then to security to update your badge. If you’ll follow me please.”

Jaz offers a hand gesture of lead on, as she falls in behind Flint. Once they reach the mess hall the Ranger carefully walks her through all the stations, and they both grab some food.

“Is this a normal day in a shatterdome?” Jaz asks after they sit down together, looking in every direction.

Flint looks around as she chews before replying “More or less, it's a little quiet here right now because there are a lot of people working over in the factory facility since the last engagement…” She trails with a face that looks like when you eat something sour.

“Why is that?” Jaz wonders _why the sour face about factory work?_

“Preparing all the spare parts for Gipsy.” Is Flint’s response, her face giving Jazmine pause before asking more. The college student lets it drop for the moment.

“What do you usually do then?” She changes topics to avoid awkward silence.

“I’m a Ranger. In between engagements I train, study tactics and sometimes help out at the academy.”

“Oh. The academy is close by, right?” Latching onto the only bit of information Jaz has retained from conversations with her brothers.

Flint responds in the affirmative, then finishes her meal. Jaz quickly finishes hers, not bothering with additional conversation, since it's clearly not something Ranger Flint cares to indulge with her.

They then wind their way to a new level of the shaterdome where security personnel have her fill out more papers, take her picture, finger print her and sign more times than she thought necessary. _I got into college, and filled out visa paperwork with fewer signatures than this._ Despite being well rested Jaz’s patience was beginning to wear thin. After all that she was finally issued a new full fledged ID badge for the Anchorage Shatterdome. Meaning she no longer needed a baby sitter for every trip in and out of the base.

Unfortunately that didn’t mean she had even the slightest clue as to how to get around the place. Thankfully Ranger Flint showed up again to help with that.  Jaz happy to see a familiar face greeted the ranger, to a less than enthusiastic response. Now Jaz’s hackles were up.

Before they walked into medical Jazmine grabbed the Ranger’s arm and spun her around. Anger flashed in both women’s eyes now, “What is your beef huh?! You have a problem being saddled with me or something? Did I offend you somehow?”

“What?!” Flint responds, taken aback, not expecting the bluntness from a 20 year old kid.

“You were short with me this morning, and now you barely make a two syllable answer to my perfectly normal questions. So something has to give. What is it? I want to get it out of the way if I’m going to be sticking around here at all.”

Ranger opened her mouth, said nothing and closed it again. She crinkled up her face before she tried again, paused before looking away, “I don’t have any problem with you.” Flint looked Jaz in the face, “I’m just mad at Rangers Becket, for landing in this,” she gestures to the doors to medical. “I didn’t mean to project that onto you.”

“Well get in Line, because I am claiming front row to chewing Yancy out for this mess.” With that Jaz walks back through the doors into medical.

Hot on her heals, Ranger Flint grabs Jaz’s arm in a similar fashion to what just happened. “Woa, Jazmine. Before you go in there, calm down, I didn’t mean to get under your skin like that.”

“I am perfectly calm Ranger Flint, but that won’t help my brothers from my wrath when they are good and healed.”

Flint drops her grip on Jaz. “Oh well in that case, save me a space in that line to chew them out? Let me start over with you,” offers her hand to Jaz. “Name’s Ilisapie, I assumed too much before. Just because you’re related I thought you would condone their actions. I shouldn’t assume anything.”

Jaz rolls her eyes at Ilisapie as they shake hands again. “1. never assume anything, 2. I don’t even really know what happened besides Kaiju attacked. So lets not make anymore of an ass out of you or me and forget this happened? I’d like to be on good terms with you, if you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah, I’d like that. Call if you need anything, the nursing staff know how to get a hold of me.” She mock saluted Jaz, then strode away and out of medical. Jaz just shook her head, _Assumptions, I shouldn’t build my own either, so don’t chew Yancy out too bad until he can explain._

Jaz walked into Yancy’s room to find another gentleman she didn’t know. He didn’t notice her at first, looking at the Patient as he leaned on the edge of the bed. _Not a Ranger, different uniform, although clearly upset from something._ Then the door clicked closed, and he looked up to her.

Jumping up from the chair so fast it fell over he looked amazed to see another person standing there.

_What is with these people, does no one sleep around here, or everyone jump to wild assumptions?_ “Hello,” Stated calmly, “I’m Jazmine, and you are…?”

“Oh hello, I’m friends with the Becket Brothers.” He fidgets with a rosary around his wrist, before offering his hand to her, “I’m Tendo, LOCCENT for Gipsy. You must be their sister.”

“Yep, that’s me, the one and only.” She broadly smiles at the man, “Guess word gets around quick.” She feels sheepish meeting friends of Yancy without Yancy to interject at all. _its strange_. She deflates a little.

“No, not really, but Carolina was just here, she mentioned you might stick around.”

“Ah, well, that explains a lot. Does that woman ever sleep?”

Laughter bubbles up from Tendo, surprising Jaz. He quickly gets control of himself, “You came in what? Last night, at best? And you’ve already got her pegged. Wow you Beckets know how to cut straight through the bullshit. Oh well, I should be getting on. It was nice to meet you Jazmine Becket.”

Before she can correct him he is past her and out the door. Once again she is alone with Yancy. She drops her backpack on one chair, slumps down in the other. Stares at her brother for a few moments, mind wandering a bit. _That guy seemed really familiar with Yance. Sitting close, almost intimately, meh, I’m sure its none of my business._ Setttling into a comfortable space she grabbed her notes to look over.

Several nurses come in and check in on the patient while Jaz watches over her brother. She glances up after one of the nurses has left. She is rewarded with seeing Yancy opening his eyes.

She jumps up from the chair, grabs his hand before he can slide away.  
“Yance?” suddenly tears springing to her eyes, she blinks them back.

“hrnn, 5 more minutes,” he blinks again, “Jazzy?”

“Yeah,” She starts to laugh a little, “only you would want to sleep more than a week. Lazy bones!”

He blinks repeatedly, turns his head slowly one way then the other. “What’re you doin’ ere?”

“Looking in on you, dumbass!” She admonishes in the fashion they used to use when they lived together.

“Where’s Rals?” The monitors kick into high gear, clearly Yancy is panicking, “Raleigh, Rals?!”

“Woah! Calm down. He’s fine, he’s being taken care of, calm down!” It doesn’t seem to calm him. Nurses rush in, and Jazmine is holding Yancy’s hand, and he is gripping hers like a lifeline.

“Jazzy? RAls?! Where’s my brother?! He’s hurt, you have to help him, Jazzy! Rals!”  
The nurses’ attempts to calm him are equally unsuccessful, as he continues to yell his siblings’ names.  He is starting to fidget and make attempts to get up. Before he hurts himself the staff sedate him again. Minutes pass and he falls back into quiet, drugs kicking in to return calm to the room.

Jazmine calms down after the nurses leave. Moments later Carolina pops in to talk to Jaz. They go out into the hall with a backward glance at the resting form. 

“Lets take a quick tour while they set up your brothers again.” Jaz looks back at the room with confusion. Carolina continues, addressing the unasked question “the doctors are transferring Yancy and Raleigh into the same room in the HCU.”

“oh” is Jaz’s only thought.

“any questions about how to get around? Any particular places you want to see?” They walk out of medical with one additional glance back through the doors.

"Why is he so upset about Raleigh? And why are they both being transferred?" She Stops walking just outside the medical doors, stubborn streak in full effect.  _Explain any of this and maybe I can trust you._

Exhaling smoothly, Carolina turns to Jazmine, "Come on, I'll explain everything that happened, and maybe we can both move on after that."

Jaz refuses to move, "Where are you taking me this time?"

"You want to have this conversation in the hallway or would my office be a better location? Hmm?" The older woman tilts her head at the younger woman.  _Fine, that might make sense..._ Jazmine starts walking again, following Carolina's lead.


	7. Fury oh Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing where Jazmine and Caroline left off last chapter. We meet up with some familiar faces, learn more about Ms. Lapierre as well as her relationship with her brothers. She defends her brother but when he wakes up, the tides may change. Jazmine has a lot to learn about Jaeger pilots and drifting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was part of chapter 6 originally, but it got too long.  
> This song was part Carolina part Jazmine, and the inspiration for this chapter: [Fury oh Fury, by Nico Vega](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9AjsA-w48Y) Please let me know if you see inconsistencies or errors. Comments and reviews greatly welcomed. Please keep reading! this is moving kinda slow but there will be some time jumps coming up with some additional action after that, oh and Jaeger Academy shenanigans.

**March 9, 2020**

**1300**

 

She throws her hands up at the whole situation.  She gets up from her chair, walks around it before leveling a stare at Carolina.  “You mean to tell me one of the ‘nurses’ was really one of his psych team?!” Jazmine is losing her cool rapidly.  “Well that is just great! You have people watchin’ them even when they’re barely conscious?! I hate to think about what kind of microscope you keep them under when they’re awake and active!”

 

“I know, I don’t like it either.”

“wait, you’re their PR and you don’t like keeping them under watch 24/7? Oh..kay…” Did not see that coming, was expecting excuses. hmmm maybe she isn’t so bad.  

 

“No, I don’t like how the PPDC is currently operating in regard to the rangers care or interests.  But being that currently there is little they can say for themselves there is little point in getting between the med and psych teams. As long as both teams are looking out for Yancy and Raleigh’s best interest...”  She looks off into space for a moment.  Jaz thinks she is debating something.

 

“And…?”

“I’m surprised how quickly you rallied for your brothers when I know for fact you’re studying psychology. What’s so different with them? hmm.” The PR rep sits back in her chair, waiting for a response.  She waits, raises an eyebrow, an invitation to rebuttal perhaps.

 

Breathing in deeply, before exhaling through her mouth Jaz composes herself before countering. “Let’s be clear here; I’ve had enough of PPDC bullshit and assumptions.” holding her hand up, to count out loud, “1, I may be a psychology major, doesn’t make me a monster, 2, I still don’t know all the facts about what happened to my brothers, hell, I’m not even sure what their job entails besides kill Kaiju.” She pauses, with a stare stops the PR rep from interceding. “3, I believe everyone deserves to be treated fairly, and right now Yancy is not in his right state of mind to be judged by anyone, aside from his medical team.  So No I don’t think its right to be evaluating him.” Jaz’s points completed sits down in the chair across from the desk that Carolina offered her when they walked in.  “Any other assumptions you want to get out now?”

Carolina’s response is a big toothy grin. Jaz is a little freaked out by this response.

 

“I like you.” Jaz can only blink in confusion, she opens her mouth to say something but has no words. Closes her mouth again and tilts her head to the side to ask the question she can’t find.

“You’re no push over, I like a person willing to stick up for herself. You’re a lot like your brothers that way, but don’t let it get you in the same kind of trouble they found.” Carolina shakes her head again, clears her throat and continues, “Need a job after you graduate, call me first.” She pulls a business card from the desk drawer, clicks a pen and writes a number on the back.  She slides it across the desk to Jazmine.  “That’s my personal cell, in case of emergencies.”

 

Jaz takes the card looks it over, flips it over to the back.  She reaches down to her bag, only to remember she gave up her phone when she came into the Shatterdome. “Damn, um any way I could get my phone back now?”

 

Without responding the PR rep grabs the phone on the desk, rapidly punches in a number. Waits a moment, “Hello, this is PR Olivares of Gipsy Danger.  I have Jazmine Lapierre with me,” there is a pause as the other end responds. Carolina nods, “uh huh, yup, uh huh.  Okay great, bring it up to my office please. Thank you.” She hangs up.

 

Jazmine looks expectantly.  “Its on its way up. Sorry they didn’t return that when they processed you for security.  This incident has everyone a little frazzled.”  Carolina shuffles some papers around on her desk, looking for something, grabs one folder and places it on top of the pile, opens it up. “May I be candid with you?” She pauses without looking up from her folder.

 

“Of course, that’s why we dropped the bullshit.” Jaz sits back further into the chair, getting comfortable.

 

“You’re not what I was expecting at all.” She looks Jaz over once more. “Since I think I can trust you, do you want the full disclosure of what your brothers do? I don’t know how much you know.” She looks up from her folder at this point.  Carolina closes the folder, leaning farther forward over her desk.  

 

“Like I said before, I know they fight kaiju, they pilot a jaeger.”

Carolina sits silent for a moment, “That all you know? Did they tell you any details? Anything at all?”

“Nope. Yancy chats about locations, Raleigh’d talk about people they’ve worked with.  Sometimes one of them would mention it was a tough day or whatever, but not really much more than that.” Jaz stares off into the corner, trying to remember if they told her anything of value or importance. _Nothing ringing any bells right now._

 

“okay well lets give you the crash course in Ranger 101, and what it takes to,” PR rep throws up some air quotes, “pilot a jaeger and fight kaiju.”  

 

After learning about drifting, the Pons, and all the training, Jazmine has a little more respect for what her brothers do.  There is a quick interruption for security to drop off Jaz’s cell phone.  Continuing without losing her momentum, Carolina lets her know her privileges as family of PPDC Officer staff. 

Carolina sums it up like so, “They basically left out all the information, which isn’t surprising, knowing them.” 

“tsh!” Jaz rolls her eyes once more, “That is typical Becket modus operandi. Remotely interesting or important, don’t bother to tell the rest of the family.  Ugh really wishing it wasn’t right now.” Jaz leans to the side of the chair and rests her chin in her hand.  ::buzz buzz::

She grabs for her phone which since its return has been sitting quietly in her bag.  

 

“oh! do you have a charger? I’ve left it for a day, and Charlie is worried about me at this point, I’m sure.”  

The PR rep deftly grabs a charger out of the desk, plugs it into the lamp on the desk and hands the other end over to waiting hands. “Oh thank you so much.”  Quick typing and the phone is laid down on the desk, left to charge.  

“Should I contact Charles Becket?  He is welcome to visit if you like.”

Jaz shakes her head, “Nah, no worries.  I contacted him, so he knows where I am.  He might come after I go back to school if they aren’t up and about yet.  Do you think…” confusion crosses Jaz’s face, _How do I say this without sounding heartless?_

“Yance is okay right? And Raleigh?” _Best to say less._  

 

Carolina looks down at her desk for a moment before returning eye contact.  “Honestly? I don’t know, he’s seems to be stable now.”  She shutters, and wipes her hand across her forehead, “He’s gone to code twice since being pulled from Gipsy.  Realistically only time will tell.  But if you’re asking opinions, then I have to say that yes, both of your brothers are fighters.  If Yancy is still alive I doubt that Raleigh will give up now.”  She leans back in her chair, the world weighing in on her shoulders again.

 

Jaz settles a stern face at the woman behind the desk, “In that case I’d rather not leave here until I have to go.  But I don’t want to wear standard issue sweats for two weeks either.  Maybe I’ll contact Charlie again, see if can bring my bag down with him.” Her mind made up, she grabs the phone again, sending off a message. 

 

“Now that’s settled how about we take a break and get some food?  You hungry?”

“Hmm,” engrossed in her message, she finishes before looking up, “food? Yes Please!”

Carolina smiles at Jaz then, “That’s a face I’ve seen before. Only it looks better on you.” She winks at Jaz.  

 

* * *

 

The two women adjourn to the mess hall, the whole trip down getting tips and pointers on how best to find your way around the ‘dome. They grab food and sit down together when Carolina’s phone goes off.  

“Oh, excuse me.” She looks down at the number, “I’ll be right back.” The PR rep is up and walking out of the mess hall as she answers the call. “Yes, Marshall…”  

Jaz doesn’t think much more of it. But dedicates her focus to the food in front of her.  After her hunger is sated she looks around.  A familiar face walks into the mess hall, Jaz ventures a small wave to the Ranger, and is happy to see Ilisapie make a bee line toward her table.  

“Well hello again.” Flint greets, with another new face in tow, a man looking around the same age as Flint, with similar facial features. _Siblings? Relations?_  “Zeke, this is the spit fire I was telling you about. Jazmine, meet my copilot, Zeke Amarok, of Chrome Brutus.”  The man in question smiles broadly, extends his hand to Jaz, who reaches over her tray to grab the offered hand.  

 

“Nice to meet you.” She smiles back, getting accustomed to this place is easier than a college campus, everyone seems nice enough.  

 

“We’re going to grab some grub and then can we join you?” Zeke asks.  Jaz nods vigorously.

 

“Cool. Be right back.” Ilisapie finishes the thought. After everyone is seated and fed Ilisapie turns to Jaz, stares her down and asks “Can I be blunt?”

 

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Why the different name? You are related right?”

“Flint! you have no manners some days!” Zeke looks aghast at his copilot.

Jaz however is unphased by the question, looks at Ilisapie, “Its alright. Yeah, and I grew up a Becket.  Technically in the US I am still Becket, but habits form quick. Pros and cons to dual citizenship.  I’m currently claiming residency with my grandparents in France, thus the Lapierre. Normally its raises fewer questions, that and I don’t have to worry about any Jaeger fame seekers.  I’ve gotten used to going by Lapierre.”

 

“oh well that makes some sense.  The Jaeger flies are obnoxious, no matter where you are.”

 

“Is that what you call them?” Her eyebrows shoot up, face tweeked.  “learn something new everyday.”

 

Ilisapie is just staring at her open mouthed. “What? I have food on me or something?”

 

“Huh? oh no, you just made a face so much like your brothers that the resemblance was shocking.” Jaz rolls her eyes, like she’s heard it a million times before.

 

Carolina strolls back into the mess hall, a concerned look on her face.  Jaz immediately gets up from the table ready for whatever has the PR rep worried.  “What is it? Something wrong?”

 

Refocusing on the present, Carolina looks at Jaz. “Wrong? no, no, not at all.  Oh we should head back down to Medical, they say Yacny is awake again, and he might even be lucid now. Come on.”

 

* * *

 

Back down in Medical Jaz and Carolina are both directed up to the ICU wing. _Is this a good or bad sign?_ The thought is fleeting, and when they reach the room she knows why they weren’t sure if Yancy is lucid or not.  They are both in HCU, even though Yancy only has one IV line attached, Raleigh is still hooked up to a dozen machines or more.  The two beds are pulled up next to each other. Yancy is sitting up, staring at Raleigh, a dazed look on his face, like he’s not entirely present within himself.  

Jaz is given a gown, cap, and face mask before being allowed to enter the room, a precaution the nurse says.  Carolina is waiting outside, talking to one of the nurses they saw the other day, _Kaida? Priyasha? I can’t remember everyone’s name in two days, doesn’t matter right now. Yancy!_

Walking up carefully to Yancy’s side opposite Raleigh’s bed, she waits to see if there is a response to her presence.   _He must have seen the movement, I know I crossed his field of vision to get over here_. ::cough cough:: she clears her throat loudly.  No response but a blink.  

She ventures farther, “Yancy? Yance? Yance.”  He blinks several more times, before slowly turning his head to look at her. She is so excited, but manages to contain it in a smile.  

 

“Jazzy? What, Jaz? What’s goin’ on? Tell me this is a dream or something?”

 

The smile slides off her face as the state of her brother really sinks in.  She leans over the edge of the bed and grabs his hand carefully.  “Yance, you’re not dreaming. This is all real right now. Rals is here with us though, so we’re all going to make it through, just like we always used to.” She nods her head to emphasize her own statement. Her big bro blinks a couple more times, and some life returns to his expression.   _He’s waking up_ , she thinks.

 

“We didn’t listen.  The Kaiju, and Raleigh, and…” Yancy’s face screws up into an expression of confusion and then a flash of pain.  

 

“Yancy, Its alright, you’re both here now.  You both did it,” She is making up platitudes as she goes, not sure how he’ll handle it.   

“We did?”

“Yes you did.”

He looks far off for a moment, the trying to remember something face.  “No, no we didn’t!”  The monitor on Yance picks up its pace, anger and distraught in equal measure leading no where good.  

Jaz tries to calm him, “Yes you did, the Kaiju is dead and brought your Jaeger back.”

“no,” He latches both hands onto one of hers, turning slightly towards her, “No, WE didn’t, don;t you see?!” No I don’t see, what has you in histerics.

“Yance, it takes two pilots to operate a Jaeger, and you both made it back here.  Calm down and think, you’re both here, you need to rest to get better.”

“Don;t you see?! **WE** didn’t, HE DID!” Big bro looks away from Jaz and pointedly stares at the prone form in the bed next to him.  This doesn’t add up, Jaz ponders, and without thinking starts speaking her train of thought.  Old habits of name calling...

“That idiot? No way he did anything so outrageous.”  She says it so glibly, it was almost a joke, but Yancy isn't joking around.

“Idiot?!” Yancy turns back to Jaz, a crazed look in his eyes, “THAT IDIOT saved the whole Goddamed coastline!” He squeezes her hand hard before letting go altogether.  “He’s done what I couldn’t, saved my ass when… He’s far from an Idiot, Jaz. Don’t call him that, he deserves so much more.”

Jazmine takes a step back from the bed, mixture of awe and anger rising in her chest.  

Yancy turns his attention back to his brother, “saved gipsy and my sorry ass,” Yancy says to the room.  

Carolina comes in all gowned up, and quickly ushers Jazmine out of the room. “Kaida, page either Flint or the Gages to make sure she gets back to her quarters.  I’m staying with the boys for a while.” With that she shoved Jaz out of the room and turns back to the occupants of the beds.  “Shhh, Yancy, I know…” she is just shy of cooing at him, when the door clicks shut.  Jaz is standing in the hallway again, with a nurse she’s seen before.  

 

The nurse smiles broadly at Jaz, “well that could have gone better. Oh well.  Come on Ms. Lapierre, I just got off duty so I can either show you back to your quarters or give you an additional tour.  What’s your choice?” She smiles then, a little too broadly.

 

“Oh, um, what was your name again?” she asks meekly, feeling a lot like a child that was just scolded for eating too many cookies.

 

“Nurse Kaida Tanaka, You can call me Kaida.  So where to?”  Jazmine’s head starts to spin, today has just turned upside down on her, _what did Yance mean? why was he and Carolina so upset? What the heck is going on?!_


	8. Flaws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marshall has a lot of tasks to do. Meet with one set of Rangers for possible good news, meet with another set for probably unwanted news.  
> Then the Marshall will have to do a lot of reading. Several reports on his desk, and the UN and PPDC COs asking for updates. When will we have a full combat report? What happened off the coast in February? What is taking so long to retrieve the black box? What is the status of the Beckets? What are we going to do with them and the Jaeger?  
> The Marshall misses being only a Ranger on days like this, less paperwork and authority to report to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song for this chapter is Flaws by Bastille, check it out [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E36WU9Wzf4) This is also a first for posting images in addition to the text. I spent a lot of time pondering over the Beckets history before moving forward. Huge apologies for the delay in posting, hope people are reading the other stories I've posted in the mean time. (Lazy Holiday and Walk in the Rain)  
> There is more info to come for Raleigh in the upcoming chapters. More of the info and songs etc related to this fic can be found on my tumblr, and I've created a [Pacific Rim Love page](http://archerybushidokid.tumblr.com/pacrimheadcanon), for all the headcanon, WIPS, prompts etc. This took a lot of time to think through.  
> I have done a fair amount of research on miscellaneous medical conditions but I also took liberties with this documentation as I originally imagined it. If you have any input or advice on how to make this better I welcome the input. Thanks and please read and review.

**March 9, 2020**

**0800**

Stacker Pentecost had a busy day ahead, which was not unusual. Running a shatterdome of hundreds of people and maintaining all the machinery those people used was a full time job.  He was used to that.  Today he was not looking forward to having to be the barer of unwanted news, it wasn’t bad just the timing could be better. But he had a job to do, and so did everyone else in the Shatterdome.  So like a professional, which he often is identified as, he straightened his tie, checked his appearance in the mirror, then pulled his jacket into place before leaving his quarters for his busy schedule.

 

After stopping by the mess hall for some quick breakfast, he checked his watch.  Should be able to find both sets of Rangers in one place.  He strides down the halls toward the Kwoon.  They will be finishing up morning bushido training shortly, I can grab one pair of rangers now, and set a time to talk to the other ones.  

 He gets to the entrance to the kwoon just as they are finishing up.  The Rangers putting their bo staves back in the rack.  He waits for them to head towards the locker rooms before grabbing their attention. The Gages spot him first, both stop dead in their tracks, whatever they were talking about gone and forgotten.  The seasoned Rangers salute the Marshall as he approaches them.  Zeke and Ilisapie are still talking to each other when they turn to see the Gages standing at attention and the Marshall gesturing to them to relax.  

 

“I’m glad I caught you both.  Rangers Gage, I would like you both to stop by my office later today.  You both available at 1300?” The Marshall looking from one to the other.

They both nod their heads in unison before replying “Yes sir””

 

“Thank you, I’ll see you both at my office then.  You are dismissed.” They both salute again before exiting the room, a look back over their shoulder to the Marshall and Chrome Brutus’ pilots.

 

“Ranger Flint, Ranger Amarok I was wondering if I could get a moment of your time?”

 

Ilispie looks over at Zeke as he does the same to her, they look back at their commander, both nodding emphatically. Zeke adds “Yes sir!”

 

He gestures for them to follow him, he crosses the room to the bench set up on one side of the kwoon.  He asks them to sit down a moment.  “Rangers, I am hoping to get your help in an important matter.”  They both look up at him with a deer in headlights gaze.  “Its nothing dire.” He dismisses the shock from their faces, “I was wondering if both of you would be willing to assist in training at the Academy next semester?”  

 

Zeke looks at Ilisapie, before starting “Sir, isn’t up to you to decide that? I mean we will follow orders, and if that is part of it, then…” He leaves off with another side eye at his copilot.

 

“In theory and practice you are right.  But I wanted to give you the chance to think about it and discuss.  If you don’t think you are right to teach cadets or some other objections I would have you voice them. To me directly, as opposed to forcing you into a position that neither of you is comfortable in.  I’m asking now, so you can let me know your answer, or your reasons as it may be, by tomorrow.”  He dipped his chin slightly to each ranger before continuing. “I will expect an answer by this time tomorrow.  Any questions?”

Ilisapie didn’t hesitate to ask “why us sir?”

 

Pentecost fought with himself not to roll his eyes at the question. “You are both experienced Jaeger pilots, with valuable knowledge to share.  Plus you’re both well suited to train at the Academy while still being stationed here.”

 

“Why not the Gages, then sir? Not that I don’t trust your opinion, its just..” Flint trailed off.

 

Pentecost exhaled slowly while gathering his response. “I have other plans for them at this time. In addition they trained for two semesters at the academy just last year.”

Ilispaie looked like she wanted to swallow her own tongue after that. Zeke just noded thoughtfully.

 

Pentecost concluded “I will await your answer tomorrow. Rangers…”

They both quickly jumped up and saluted before he dismissed them to the locker rooms, and he left the kwoon.  

* * *

**March 9, 2020**

**1300**

 

Marshall Pentecost was sitting in his office when the Gages knocked on his door. He opened the door, and led them in.  They sat down across from him when he told them to relax and be seated.

 

He closed the folder he was reading on his desk, before addressing them again.

 

“Gentlemen, you’re being reassigned.”

 

Trevin looked like someone slapped him, Bruce had an awful look of abject horror. But neither of them said a single word of reproach for the fact.  Bruce schooled his features back to neutral before clearing his throat, and asking “Where and when sir?”

 

“Lima, you leave at the end of the month.”

 

“May I ask why sir?” Pentecost was mildly surprised that the question came from Trevin, and not Bruce.

 

“We need to shuffle the different Jaegers around. K-sci thinks that the Kaiju might be learning what weapons we have and where.  So in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve we are shuffling around jaegers between attacks.”  

 

“Will someone be coming here in our place?” Bruce sounded concerned for the Anchorage shatterdome, as if the Marshall would leave it understaffed.

 

“You don’t need to worry about Anchorage.  We will be getting a Jaeger from either japan or australia, as Lima is sending Puma Real to Hong Kong. Any other questions?”

Bruce looked like he wanted to say something to counter the order, but instead Trevin gave him a slightly pained look. Bruce just bit his lower lip before affirming “No sir.”

 

“You are dismissed.” They both jumped up and saluted before seeing themselves out.  

 

Pentecost exhaled as he watched them go. He sat motionless for some time before he looked over the stack of reports sitting on his desk waiting to be reviewed.  He pinched the bridge of his nose, grimacing at the desktop.   _Almost anything is better than looking at these reports_ , but as Marshall there was no getting around reading them.  Pentecost opens his eyes and sorts through the items on the desk.  Report from J-tech on the status of all Jaegers in the Anchorage Shatterdome, typical post deployment status update, really just written for the records.  Another folder contains the report on Gipsy Danger, a much larger file than the previous ones.  

 

Shifting both folders to the side the Marshall continues to read the tabs on the folders; one from Loccent, weekly update on all operations.  LOCCENT has a separate folder for the post combat report on Gipsy, a post it note on the top states: “delay in black box data - T Choi” very official note. Clever not to mention it in the official reports, the PPDC brass might be breathing down their necks otherwise.

 

Digging down to the bottom of the pile are two more folders, both marked confidential in bold red letters across the front.  Reading the tabs; one is from the Shatterdome Medical team, the other from Gipsy Dangers’ Psych team.  Placing all the others aside Pentecost opens the Medical Team’s folder first. 

 

 

The Marshall has seen it before, so he skims the first page before flipping forward to the newest report filed within.  Its direct from the medical staff, so its not been processed and typed up yet.  Pentecost leans back in his chair and brings the folder towards him to balance the spine on the edge of the desk.  He is going to digest all the report has to say before he even thinks about what the UN is going to ask of him and possibly these Rangers.

 

 

**March 9, 2020**

1800

Anchorage Shatterdome- Med Bay

 

Pentecost is tired, and a bit on edge. 

 After reading through the reports, Stacker decides its time to take a look at the subjects in question.  Allowing himself a heavy sigh to vent his mood before leaving the privacy of his office, Pentecost stands up from his desk and recomposes himself.  He smiles inwardly at the idea of Tamsin, laughing at him for looking effortlessly prim, when she knew how much effort he put into maintaining that appearance.  But no one but his copilot would know that.  He re buttoned his coat, pulled the edges down into place before heading out the door and down to medical.  

   

As soon as he steps through the doors the atmosphere changes, his presence alone seems to electrify the place.  All the staff on duty stand a little bit taller, their shoulders square, their tasks on pause until the Marshall passes.  He quickly proceeds to the desk, and asks to see which doctor is overseeing the Beckets currently.  Pentecost is in time to still catch the doctor who penned the report, Dr. Samuel Emmer shows up and escorts the Marshall back to the office the doctors use for consultations.  

Unlike the rest of the nursing staff, he seems relaxed in the Marshalls’ presence.  He sits behind the desk, and casually gestures for Pentecost to have a seat. The Marshall inclines his head minutely as a greeting.  Dr. Emmer continues, “How can I help you Marshall?”

   

“Doctor, I wanted to talk to you before I visit the Beckets.  I’ve read your report, and I want your honest opinion.  Will they be able to recover from this?”

Samuel, a tall and rather lanky man, tents his fingers together, and purses his lips together before answering.  “Honestly?” he inquires, raising an eyebrow at the Marshalls sudden insistence.  The doctor leans back in his chair while interlacing his fingers, laying them in his lap he stares at them for a moment longer.  When he looks up at Pentecost again he seems to have a hardened edge to his gaze.  “I can’t really say now. Not until I’ve had Dr. Lightcap down here to assess both of them.  Not to mention if Raleigh’s higher cognitive functions have survived the surgery.  So the short answer is still maybe. But if physically you want to know will they pull through? I’d have to say since Yancy is still somewhat lucid despite the heavy dose of meds he’s on, that he’s likely to pull through.” Samuel shrugs at the end of it, as if to add, take it or leave it.  

 

The Marshall considers this answer, even as he thinks _if he was in their place if his copilot was alive I would try my damndest to recover too.  But their recovery isn’t up to his resolve, but their own_.   He represses the compulsion to ask for a yes or no answer, understanding not everything is black and white, or _almost nothing is so simple anymore_.  Pentecost dips his head in compliance with that thought.  “Has Dr. Lightcap scheduled a visit yet? Or is that pending the younger Becket’s condition?”

 

The young doctor leans forward over the desk again.  “She is scheduled to visit on Friday. For her own reasons, but she is going to review Yancy’s condition at that time.  She would be the better person to ask if Raleigh is eligible for evaluation or not, sir.”

 

Pentecost is beating about the bush now, just delaying his own judgement.  He thanks the doctor for his time.  But as a courtesy he shows Pentecost to the room the rangers are currently sharing.  Looking through the window he can see that Yancy is currently resting, Raleigh is still hooked up to several machines and a feeding tube.  The doctor excuses himself as Pentecost watches the physical therapist move the younger Beckets limbs around.  He stands outside observing for a time before the physical therapist leaves.  On her way out he stops her.

 

“Excuse me, miss, have you been working with the Beckets since their admittance?”

 

The tall young woman turns to the Marshall, unphased by his presence like most of the other nurses.  Her badge reads “Pillai, P.” She gives the marshall a once over as he reads her name. “Sir, I have, but I’ve only started their PT a few days ago when the Right hemisphere woke up.  Is there something I can help you with?”  

Pentecost must have been showing his trouble on his face. He schools his features back to neutral before assuring her “I just was wondering how they are responding to treatment.” That was the best he could come up with, really? he mentally berated himself.

 

She gestured to the room as she took off her gowning to toss in the bin by the door.  “Phsyically the left hemisphere has fewer overall injuries.  The right hemisphere is banged up but his recovery is going to be hindered if the left hemisphere doesn’t rouse soon.” She leveled a stare at the Marshall, who was looking at the room again, so he didn’t catch her eye brow quirk up slightly. He turned his attention back to her, she added, “I’m no expert in drifting but I am going to say it seems to be crucial to recovery to have the support and connection of drift partners. That’s just an opinion, sir.” With that said she glibly tosses the booties and gloves into the bin before walking away from the Marshall.

 

He seems to be lost in thought again, but before she rounds the corner he speaks up, “Miss Pillai,” he waits for her to turn at the address, “thank you for your input.” She surprises him when she says nothing but bows partially before continuing around the corner and out of sight.  

 

He stands in the hallway for a while longer before he decides watching them will not change his situation.  Just as he is about to leave, he sees movement in the room. Its Carolina Olivares, she must have been sitting in the corner, in the blind spot of the window.  She places a kiss to Yancy’s forehead before walking around to the other occupant and placing one in kind on his forehead. She is clearly distracted as well, she doesn’t even acknowledge him when exiting the room.  Its only after taking off her gown, cap, booties and gloves, and deposited them in the bin by the door that she even looks up.  

“Oh!” startled by his presence, she jumps back slightly, rests her hand over her heart.  

 

“Pardon my intrusion.” The marshalls bows his head to her.  “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

 

“No, No Marshall, that was my bad, wasn’t being observant.  What brings you down here, if you don’t mind my asking.”

 

He gestures his chin toward the room, “trying to get a grasp of the situation on my hands.”

 

She nods, understanding all too well the bind he might end up in. “Ah, did you talk to thier doctors? Or even PT Pillai? She is a very good gauge of physical limitations.”

 

“Yes, briefly.” He looks off into the distance without seeing anything for a moment. Debating how to proceed. He decides he can be somewhat candid with Carolina, who he asked personally to take this position. “I can only put off the UN and press for so long before someone gets word out. I need to make a call soon. It would be easier if they were both conscious.” He turns to Carolina, a little bit of confusion in his eyes.  

 

“For what it’s worth Marshall, I think they’re going to pull through.  If I know these boys at all. Yancy is starting to come around more, despite his pain meds.  If Yancy is going to make it you better bet is that Raleigh isn’t far behind.  His condition is close to stable, they won’t require gowning in a few more days.” She half smirks at that thought, relief at being able to come and go more freely.  

They fall quiet, and without speaking both begin walking out of medical.  The amicable silence holds all the way to the elevator.  

 

Pentecost turns to her then, stern look on his face.  “Would you send them back out there?”

 

Even if it sounds like a remote question she can figure what he’s getting at. She stops before remarking on it, “They may not be the most obedient Rangers, but they have the heart to get the job done.  Barring any radical changes I’d have to say yes, they’d be no good in the UN’s circus act. And without asking it, no I wouldn’t condemn them for this either.”  She shrugs, “spin it however you like, but at the end of the day I’ll stick with them.” She turns and continues onto the elevator.

 

He stands there in the hall thinking on what has just conspired.  She turns in the elevator and looks at him. Raises an eyebrow to ask him, “you coming?”

He simply stands there and waves her off. The doors shut before he begins to move again.  Instead of going to his office he heads back to his quarters.  He sits at his desk, staring into the darkness for a time before pulling his laptop out of the drawer.  Sets it up and pulls up the video call client, schools his features to neutral and hits the call button.

 

“mushi mushi! Oh! Sensei, ohayo gozaimasu! Oh, sumimasen,” she ticks off the time difference on her hand, “Oyasumi.  Daijoubu?”

 

“Ohayo Mako. I wanted to check in about your upcoming trip…” His other troubles melt to the background as he talks to his daughter.  She really is his saving grace some days.  

  



	9. Fly by Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yancy dreams in the drift and inadvertently wakes Raleigh. Jazmine plays the role of responsible one, and Yancy calms down, for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter inspired by the song[Fly by Night (Yarrohs Cover)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sgyebM9PGI) by the Glitch Mob  
> There is less action, but a lot goes on in the minds of our pilots. The other half of this duo will come soon, still debating overlapping the timeline a bit.  
> Hope you enjoy, and I look forward to any comments, question, reviews, complaints people have about this. Thanks

**March 10, 2020**

**Anchorage Shatterdome Medical**

Yancy feels disoriented everytime he wakes up, like he fell asleep drunk or something.  He starts awake almost every time too, waking from some nightmare of snow and ice.  Then he opens his eyes, looks around and remembers its not a dream, it was a kaiju attack.  He closes his eyes and concentrates on the feeling of the drift, like a magnetic field running through the back of his mind.  He can’t communicate with Raleigh with it, but he can feel the slight pushback and resistance of his brothers’ consciousness.  Its the feel of his sleep state, like Raleigh’s dreams are blips on the radar of the drift.  

 

Yancy opens his eyes again, looks to his left, and sees his brother.  Laying in the bed next to his, pulled up close enough to reach out to.  Yancy passes the time, watching Raleigh’s chest rise and fall.  

_How could I have let this happen?  Raleigh is supposed to be safe with me, inside Gipsy.  But here we are, busted up, and he took the brunt of it.  If the images I see in my dreams are anything to rely on, it was awful, the weight of Gipsy while the Kaiju attacked._

 

_He looks almost alive now, not as pale, but still not awake.  Did I dream Jazmine?  Were Bruce and Carolina here too?  I feel exhausted and I’ve done nothing but lay here.  Wonder how long we’ve been in medical?_

_Everything is out of whack.  Raleigh, wake up, so we can figure out how to fix this._

 

Yancy’s mind spins a little at the idea, _Fix what? or how? you can’t even figure out what is real and what is a dream._ Yancy gets the idea then.  Slowly he reaches over the edge of the bed, to his brother’s, tentatively reaching out to Raleigh’s hand.  His eyes watching Raleigh’s face, the part not obscured by bandages or sensors, as Yance slides his hand into his brother’s.  Yancy breathes a sigh of relief at the touch, Raleigh’s hand is still warm, his life still there.  Yancy feels a warmth followed by a chill pass through his body.  The tactile connection doing so much to sooth his fraying nerves, more than he will admit to anyone other than his drift partner.  

Yancy’s mind wanders, memories of visits to the lake house with their uncle, and bright summer days when Raleigh smiled and laughed freely, so brilliant that smile.  Yancy wants to see that again, to know his brother is happy and safe.  

He grips Ral’s hand harder until he sinks back into sleep, the memory of the tides at the beach soothing him into slumber.  

 

Yancy sees bubbles float by him, he chases them to the surface of the water. He explodes to the top, water flying all over as he splashes his arms out.  He remembers being with Raleigh and Jaz, he waves to the shore where their Mother and uncle sit under an umbrella.  Small figures on the shore, Raleigh having challenged him to a swimming race, and Jaz, hating to be left out, followed them out.  Yancy is still spitting some water out from the wave that knocked him under.  He sees Jaz off to his right farther in towards shore. He treads water, smaller waves rolling in towards him, he looks around but he can’t see Raleigh anywhere.  He looks again, and starts to get a cold feeling in his gut, something's wrong.  Another scan looking farther out into the water he sees a figure still swimming into open water.  

Yancy calls out to his brother, in hopes of getting his attention.   _You’ve won you idiot, how far you going to swim to prove a point?_ Still not responding to Yancy’s calls, Jazmine catches up to him, panting and spitting out water.  She has a confused look on her face, not understanding why Yancy is upset.  He tells her to swim back towards the shore, he’s going to try and get idiot Raleigh’s attention.  

 

“Meet you back at the beach.” She nods and starts back, swimming more relaxed than on the way out.  Yancy starts swimming slowly out to where he thinks he sees Raleigh, still swimming out, Yancy stops a couple times to try and yell to Raleigh to stop and come back.  Yancy is getting closer, as Raleigh is running out of steam.  

Another small wave rocks Yancy back, before he sees even more trouble.  There are a pack of speedboats on the water heading towards them.  

Yancy’ tries again, yelling to his brother, “Raleigh come back!”  His brother finally stops and turns to him, lazily treading water, barely holding his head above the slight waves.  

Raleigh, stubbornly stays where he is, yells back, “Not till I’ve  won!”

Yancy rolls his eyes, but sees the boats continue to approach, _Raleigh must hear them too_ , “Come on! Rals let's’ get back to shore.”

Ducking under water once before splashing about more, the younger brother yells back, “Not till you say it!”

“What?!”

“Say who won!”

Not wanting to debate this all afternoon in the water Yancy relents, although he didn’t really want to, but it's part of being the bigger brother, “You win! Now can we go?”

 

Raleigh beams a brilliant smile at Yancy before he starts to paddle back, taking his time, still gulping in air as he goes.  But the exchange has taken too long, the boats aren’t going to hit them, but the group of waves they are kicking up are barreling straight for Raleigh, who doesn’t seem to be aware of them in the least.  Yancy starts to swim out to Raleigh, who sees this and must stupidly think it's a new challenge. Halfway back to Yancy, Rals turns around only to be caught and thrown by the waves hitting him square in the face.  

 

Yancy sees them coming and quickly ducks underwater to avoid the force of it.  When he surfaces a moment later Raleigh is gone. Panic starts to grip him.  Swimming with a new flow of adrenaline Yancy books it over to where he last saw his brother. Ducking under the water he opens his eyes to look around. The lake is murky and full of sediment, so he doesn’t see much.  He quickly comes up and looks around again, seeing if Raleigh surfaced farther to shore.  The surface is still choppy and bubbles float around everywhere.  He dives under the water again, swimming around farther while looking, until he sees an blond head, and some arms still flailing, farther from the surface than they ought to be.  

 

Yancy’s mind plays some tricks on him, because next he remembers he’s on the shore with Jaz, and Mom while Uncle Charlie pulls Raleigh out of the water, looking much greener than he went in.  Charlie picks him up and drops him on shore, patting his back as Raleigh sputters and vomits up all the water he sucked up in the endeavor.  Yancy is half furious, half scared shitless, _Ral’s practically drowned himself to win a silly race!_ He runs back to where Raleigh is sitting on the beach, Charlie patting his back, and grabs his brother’s hands.  He wants to reprimand him and hug him at the same time.

 

He wakes again, gasping for air like when he resurfaced from the water.  Only this time he can hear new choking noises, panic grips him afresh when he looks over to his brother.   _His eyes are Open! He’s awake, yes! Why is he choking, OMG he needs help now!_ Yancy grabs his call button and pushes it repeatedly while he tries to sit up to help his baby bro.  Yancy can feel the panic twofold, his own and his brothers through the ghost drift in the back of his mind.  It's like someone set electricity down the connection and now it's tingling and sparking back to life after sitting dormant.  He wants to yell for help, to scream, but the compounded fear and panic dry his throat up, and nothing comes out.  

 

As nurses and other staff flood into the room he has a death grip on his call button, still hitting it repeatedly.  The nurses push Yancy’s bed away from Raleigh’s to get access to both side of him.  Yancy sits up finally and tries to tell them to bring his brother back to him, make him better and give him back.  But his body refuses to cooperate, he just hits the button in his left hand again.  He can still feel the warmth of his brothers hand there, the connection missed too dearly.  

 

Before he can try and get closer to Raleigh there is a person in his face, holding his face in their hands. He blinks, to try and clear the panic and focus on the face, he knows.  He blinks several times before he can see that it's Jazmine.   _I didn’t dream her. Oh._ His brain is slow and too fast to react, like someone is flicking a switch on and off of important information.  He opens his mouth to say something, when he realizes she’s talking to him.  

 

“Yancy, I need to you to focus here.  Come on Yance, look at me, calm down.” She flicks her eyes behind him, then back on him.  “You need to calm down, the staff are helping Raleigh, so I need you to relax.  You can see him in a moment.  Okay?” She’s talking in a very even tone, not too excited but enough emphasis in her hold to get him to return to the moment. He focuses on her face, his panic releasing its grip on his mind, the adrenaline is fading too.  He finally manages to close his mouth and nod his understanding.  She doesn’t let go of his face, still holding him fast.  She keeps talking in a calmer tone, almost soothing.

“You are gonna be fine, Yance.  Raleigh is getting help, he’s going to be fine too.  Do you understand?” He nods again.

 

“Good.  You going to stay in bed for now.  When the medics are done we’ll get you two back together, just like before, sound good?” He starts to feel the fear and hurt on the other end of the drift recede.   He nods again. she continues her soliloquies of calming words, keeping eye contact with him.  He nods now and again, eventually she releases his face from her hands.  The room has quieted.

 

If it's from the people, or the monitors, or both Yancy can’t really tell.  But when Jazmine releases him, he turns to look at Raleigh. He’s not really awake, but not asleep either.  He’s got fewer tubes and sensors attached to him.  His eyes are half lidded, and when Yancy looks at him, Raleigh turns his head very slightly in his direction.  Yancy wants to cry for joy, _that’s his baby bro, alive!_ There is a nurse on the opposite side, she nods towards Yancy.  He doesn’t get it, he blinks and his bed is closer to Raleigh.  

 

Less hesitant this time, he reaches out to grab Raleigh’s hand.  This time sliding his hand over and clasping it, the warmth is still there, while the touch reignites the electricity in the back of his mind.  He can hear/feel in the back of his mind _Yancy, Yancy, Yancy, Yancy YancyYanceyanceyance…_ it just keeps rolling on and on like that.

 

Yancy cracks a half smile, finally finding his voice, as rough and hoarse as it may be, “I’m here Rals, I’m right here. Not going anywhere. Don’t worry.”

 

The drift pulse evens out as he continues to hold hands.  Raleigh’s lids fllutter closed again, fighting the pull of whatever they gave him. Yancy watches as the monitors and his breathing even out again, still holding onto Yancy.  

 

Someone, _probably Jaz ,_ helps settle Yancy back down onto his bed, never breaking contact with his copilot.  Until he too feels the heavy weight of sleep dragging his eyelids down.  Squeezing his hand connected to Raleigh one last time before drifting off. 


	10. Ties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh is in and out of consciousness. Yancy is feeling miserable despite this.   
> Sleep is an elusive thing for the Beckets. Time moves fast and slow when you spend most of it inside your own head.  
> Raleigh gets the distinct impression there is something he is forgetting too.

**March 10, 2020**

**Anchorage Shatterdome Medical**

 

Raleigh floats in the water, slowly coming to the surface.  But instead of feeling air and the sun he feels a flood of confusions wash over him.  There is the sensation of water in his ears, and his vision is strange, there is dark spots covering his view. He blinks to clear the fuzziness, but all he gets are more dark spots floating in front of him.  There is a ringing in his ears, faintly beyond that he can hear beeping noises.  His nose, and throat try to expel the feeling of water in his lungs but are being held immobile.  His mind hasn’t wrapped around that sensation fully, like he’s in suspended time.

I was just swimming, with Jaz and Yance, somewhere... as the memory fades from his mind. I must have done something, it hurts. Is this pain real?  He tries to think positively and hope its in his mind only.

 

His heart is racing in his chest as he starts to panic, Where are Yancy and Jaz? He can’t seem to move his arms at all.  He starts to gag, which only brings more pain, driving through his body like a lightning bolt.  He can’t process his surroundings, is he in a hospital or was he on a beach?  He tries to focus on what he can see, a ceiling, not a beach.  He tries to force himself to calm down, but his involuntary gagging is causing panic to rise even more.

 

There are other noises, and what Raleigh can only assume are people, he tries to clear his vision to no avail, he squints instead which seems to help.  He gives up on what he can’t see and tries to listen past the sound of blood rushing in his ears.  I have to calm down to focus. He can feel a coolness enter his body, bringing numbness and a relaxing of his muscles.

Eventually his pain seems to ebb away, but so does his consciousness.    He’s back on the path to the lake with Jaz and Yancy, no thats not right, I was in the water of another lake a moment ago, when did we get here? He’s recognizes the summer house their grandparents would take them to in France.  He can hear Jaz and Yancy calling him to come play, he looks back, like there was something else there, I was just somewhere else, wasn’t I?  But all he sees is the gravel path that leads from the house to the lake.  Jaz is making a fuss and mémé is calling for Raleigh to catch up.  He dumps the ghost of whatever he can’t remember without another thought, he runs to catch up with them.

 

* * *

**March 11, 2020**

 

Yancy is a physical and emotional wreck, to put it nicely.  He hasn’t gotten any decent sleep, he keeps waking up from bad dreams or are they memories?  Yancy as a rule of thumb needs 8 hours of sleep to be a functional human.  This is not cutting it. I have to look on the bright side, Rals made it out of a coma.  So there’s hope. He tries to readjust without causing himself any more pain.  Unsuccessfully, they started cutting back his pain meds, helps clear his mind some but also beginning to notice more aches. Sarcastically he thinks who knew fighting kaiju could suck this much?! mental chuckle  Joking aside. This is awful. If I hadn’t gone through the Academy this might be the worst feeling ever.  No check that, this is worse than drift training, at least then I got to sleep it off.

 

When Jaz came back he was thrilled to see her, and spends a lot of his time catching up with her.  He listens to her stories of life in France, and she apologized for something he can’t even remember exactly.  He lets it slide thinking, I’ll ask Carolina about it later, and patches up an old familiarity with her.

 

It’s like he’s in a partial drift with a bad connection, it picks up and drops off without any warning.  When he focuses he can sense Rals, but all of a sudden he’ll be in a dream/memory without recalling ever falling asleep.  Yancy tries to describe the sensation of drifting, but it’s a very unique feeling that is hard to explain. Jaz doesn’t understand that part at all. He doesn’t try and explain his drift dreams to anyone else, right now he’s not sure what he’s feeling is even normal for drift partners.  Regardless he feels safe telling Jaz, she won’t rat him out to the psychs. 

 

He likes that Carolina and the Gages visit, even if he does look and feel like crap. They help keep his mind somewhat focused on the present, which is slippery at best.  I might be awake, but this still isn’t right.  He doesn’t tell the rangers or any PPDC personnel that. Yancy begins to wonder is this feeling is the side effects of the drift not being disengaged properly?

 

* * *

**March 12, 2020**

 

When Raleigh wakes next he still has dark spots floating through his vision, so it takes him a moment to see anything.  Looking around, blinking rapidly and tilting his head a little, he tries to get his bearings.  He sees a figure standing next to his bed. Is that his mom? He’s still disoriented and nothing seems quite right, but he feels overwhelming guilt for something.   He needs to apologize for whatever it is he’s done, for being such a pain that needs looking after. He wants to tell them I’m sorry.   But he can’t get his throat to cooperate, he concentrates on forming the words first in his mind clearly before trying again.  His throat is dry and his voice won’t come, his tongue feels slow and his lips refuse to move smoothly.  After several silent attempts he finally gets enough air to make a real noise.  With more effort he gets words out slowly and with minimal pain.

“Je suis... désolé,” he sucks in air carefully to remain calm, must tell her what’s on his mind, “Je suis... désolé... je ne sais,” takes another deep breath, “pas ce qui... se est passé,”  I'm sorry , I do not know what happened.  He Needs to tell her this, the need drowning out all other rational thoughts.

 

She turns, and sits next to the bed, leaning in towards him.  He watches her intently, sole focus on her. Is she mad at me? What happened? Where are Jaz and Yancy? Its my job as big brother to look out for Jaz, where is she? He tilts his head to the left to follow her movements.  He feels sore and his neck only allows limited range, he takes another slow deep breath before trying to apologize again. “Je suis... désolé.  Où est Jaz ...et Yancy?” I'm sorry. Where is Jaz… and Yancy?

 

She pulls back from him at the question, he can’t quite piece together the look that crosses her face, too many dark spots.  Another figure stands next to Maman, Raleigh doesn’t pay enough attention to make note of who they are. He is still trying to read the expressions on maman’s face, why does she seem confused, or concerned?  Her features are lost to Raleigh when she turns away from him, speaking instead to the figure next to her.

 

He tries to pay attention to this new person, but something is nagging at him.  He closes his eyes in attempt to focus on his other senses, when it hits him what is bugging him, his ears are ringing, but there is something beyond the constant noise, he focuses on that. Pieces together what he is hearing, “...Raleigh, Raleigh!” He opens his eyes and carefully turns his head to the voice.  

On his right, in the same bed, adjacent bed? is another person, so familiar, where do I know that voice? A flash of lightning crosses his mind, it unlocks thoughts and facts that he didn’t remember a moment ago. How could I forget?! YANCY, we were just with meme and Jaz! Jaz must be here too.  

In a soft voice he questions “Yance?” The figure seems to be delighted and enthusiastically shakes his head up and down.

 

“Yes Raleigh, I’m right here with you.”

Raleigh can’t figure out why he sounds so relieved, sighing loudly. Pushing his luck he goes on “Où est Jaz?”

 

In the back of his mind Raleigh feels this strange tingling sensation, like standing on the edge of the incoming tide, a wave that gently laps at your toes.  He wants to investigate the feeling but suddenly he feels hands on either side of his face.  He’s turned back to the woman on the left of his bed, her face brought very close to his own.  In a loud and clear voice he hears “Raleigh I’m right here.  Do you recognize me?”

 

He wants to pull away from the close contact, but she has a firm grip, his muscles are not as strong as he expects and he remains trapped in place. With the failed escape he blinks several times, then squints at the face directly in front of him.  He searches around, looking around the spots in his vision to piece her face together.  She reminds him of maman, but too young to be her.  Then it dawns on him, Its Jaz! My little sister is so much bigger than I remember.

 

He croaks “Jazzy?”

 

She smiles broadly then, nodding like Yancy had done a moment before.  She kisses his forehead soundly before releasing his face.  “Yes! Oh you wonderful fool, you had us all so worried! Argh!” She throws herself back into her chair, releasing a big sigh as she makes contact with it. “Okay so you’re not 100%, but thats to be expected after…”

 

“JAZMINE!” Yancy cuts her off, she turns her head sharply to look past Raleigh.  He can’t imagine why Yancy would be rude like that. _Its not like Yance to interrupt people._

 

“Anyway, welcome back Rals.” She leans forward to the edge of his bed again.  She looks into his face again and as he is scanning over her features to familiarize himself with this more grown up version her features change again.  The smile fades and a crease forms on her brow.  Raleigh tries to turn and look to Yancy to figure out what might cause this sudden change of atmosphere.  

 

Yancy, after some quick squinting and scanning, is sitting up in a bed next to his.  He too seems to be sporting a look of concern, pointedly watching his own face.  

 

Now Raleigh is starting to worry. _What has both siblings so upset?_ Rals face starts to feel too warm, and he is itching to be hidden away from everyone.  His throat feels dry, he tries to swallow to soothe the sensation, to no avail.  He tells himself _remain calm, don’t panic your family is here, remain calm…_ But he can feel his heart start to race, and his breathing feels shallow and quick.  He closes his eyes to try and focus himself, to break the cycle of adrenaline, the desire to fight or flight.  

 

Then cutting through the haze that threatens to overcome him he hears a song.

“Ne me quitte pas, Ne me quitte pas.”  Raleigh holds his breath for a moment, forces the icy dread that curled up in his stomach to dissipate.  He exhales slowly, calming his heart at the same time.  The voice continues “Moi, je t’offrirai, Des perles de pluie, Venues de pays, Où il ne pleut pas…”

 

Raleigh’s muscles relax, that strange feeling in the back of his mind washes over him completely. Its like when he was little, maman would sing them to sleep after waking up from a nightmare.  

He’s awoken by the sound of a dog howling.  He tried not to make any noise, but sleep would not return.  One too many werewolf movies replaying horrors in his mind.  Maman came in to check on them, Yancy and Jaz slept through it, sound sleepers.  She finds him sitting up in bed, clutching his knees to his chest. She sits next to him on the bed, gently hums the song to him.  She looks over at her other children, still sleeping.  She tucks Raleigh into her side and softly sings to him

“Pour couvrir ton corps, D’or et de lumière. _To Cover your body, gold and light_

Je ferai un domaine, Où l’amour sera reine, _I will make a domain, where love is queen_

Où l’amour sera loi, Où tu seras roi.” _where love will be law, where you will be king_

Maman smiles sweetly down at him.  They hum the chorus together, a mumbled ‘ne me quitte pas’ between them.  The dread and fear are gone, leaving in its place calm clarity.  Raleigh in the drift lays back to sleep, comforted and warm.  He has a sinking feeling, that manifests itself in the sound of ringing.  

A constant low noise that pulls him away from the safety of his bed as a sleeping child.  He looks down at himself, no longer a child, a grown up body, with scars to prove the passage of time.  He looks around his landscape again, its devoid of anything but the buzzing, ringing noise.  Raleigh keeps turning around, still feeling calm but confusion begins to crowd in, Where am I?  What was I doing?  the answer eludes him, the harder he tries to remember the more impossible it seems.

“Raleigh” He looks up sharply, its Yancy.

“Yancy, where are we?”

“Right now?”

Raleigh nods, approaches his brother, who is also standing in the void landscape with him.

“Wake up.”

Raleigh tilts his head in confusion, “What?” He says with a bit of an edge to his voice.

“You heard me, Wake up!” Yancy continues to stand passively in front of him.

“I don’t get it. I ask you where and you say wake up?!”

“Raleigh, look around, what does this place look like?”

Raleigh considers this for a moment, turning around once more to see all there is around him. _Nothing, there is nothing here, Its like when…_

 

He opens his eyes to the same floating spots, to his left is a nurse, looking down at him with a crease in her brow. _Next to her is_ , Raleigh scans for a second longer to make sure, _yea that's Jazzy._

 

“Rals!” Jaz shouts as she makes eye contact with Raleigh.  Pushing the nurse aside to stand closer to the bedside. “Don’t do that! Christ you’re going to give me grey hair at this rate!” Leveling a harsh stare across Raleigh’s shoulder she spits out “That goes for both of you! None of this,” she makes flailing hand gestures at Raleigh and to his right.  

 

Raleigh doesn’t grasp what happened, raises an eyebrow to give her a sheepish inquisition.  

“Rals,” that is his brother’s voice, Raleigh turns his head to the right, “don’t do that again.”

Yancy looks very grey, haggard, and tired.  Shit, look at yourself, what the hell happened to you? Playing it off he swallows, raises his shoulders in a shrug.  Then it hits him, he can’t feel his left arm, or hand, or shoulder.  

Dropping his expression he tries to look down at himself, his neck protests the movement, shooting pain down his back and into the base of his skull.  Ignoring that face he tries to tilt his head down a little looking at his left side.  His arm seems to be padded, he flexes his right hand, slowly picks it up to reach over and feel for his other arm.  His fingers come in contact with a hard surface, a nylon fabric covering it.  His mind races, and comes to the conclusion, _its a cast. I’ve broken my arm, and I don’t even remember how. Yance looks like crap, I don’t remember the last time Jazzy had nice words for me._

  
“ce qui s'est passé?”   _What happened?_


	11. Intention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh gets poked, prodded and examined up, down and sideways. But it still leaves him with time to ponder his current situation.

**Chapter 11: Friday March 13, 2020**

**Anchorage Shatterdome Medical**

 

“Je suis désolé.” Rals looks around Yancy’s face before continuing, “Je vous ai fait inquiétez?” _I’m sorry, I made you worry._ He breaks eye contact with Yancy. Looks down into his lap flexes his right hand several times sedately, then glances up at Yance again. He feels a pain starting to constrict in his throat, and he’s not sure if its a physical pain or a emotional one, so he continues. “Je oublier quelque chose d'important, ne sont pas je?” _I’m forgetting something important aren’t I?_

Yancy looks as Rals with heart break written across his face. Rals can see how he’s struggling to figure out what to say next. Raleigh can feel a cold chill run down his back and settling in his gut, the feeling of dread taking hold. A cold sweat breaks out over his palms, and his stomach sinks, _What am I missing Yancy?_

Yancy is thinking _What if Raleigh doesn’t remember anything? Forgot about Gipsy, and the Academy, our friends, all the time we spent trying to make the world a little bit safer._  
Yancy looks to Jaz, Raleigh follows his brothers face. Yancy seems lost for words as he opens his mouth and closes it again without saying anything. Raleigh wants to comfort his brother, but his throat feels like it's closing up, he swallows to alleviate the feeling, without luck.

Raleigh divides his attention between his two siblings, both sporting a scowl and concerned look. Yancy keeps looking back and forth between Rals and Jaz, with little more than a whispered breath escaping his lips. Jaz seems more on the angry side of concern, staring at Yancy, she spares Raleigh a glance before attempting to get her older brother’s attention back. “Yancy,” pause, Raleigh looks to Yance again. “Yancy, Yance, Yancy Becket!” Raleigh sees his brother return to the present as he blinks rapidly. Jazmine looks pissed, _why is she so mad?_ Figure that out after what has Yancy in a trance.

“Sorry, Jaz.” Yancy’s attention is back on his brother, “Raleigh, what is the last thing you remember doing before waking up?”

Jaz looks downright pissed now, her face in a scowl, her brow creased, “Yance, let him be for now. Its not going to do any good to hound him about it now!”

Yancy is deliberately ignoring his sister, Raleigh thinks, _dude you know that’s a bad idea, Beckets hate to be ignored!_ But unheeded of the trouble he should know he’s getting himself into Yancy focuses on Rals and asks again, “I need to know, please Raleigh.”

Raleigh isn’t sure why his siblings are both upset, or even what they are upset about. He’s not really sure what is going on at all, _its like I missed the memo_. Taking stock again of what he does know: _he’s in medical, his throat hurts, his arm is presumably broken and there is a constant dull ache in his head that only gets worse with each passing moment._ Jazmine is here, with Yancy too. _What does he remember? Yancy and I were sparring with the Gages for fun, then we played a game of poker after dinner. I remember going to bed, and then…_

He couldn’t remember, the more he tried to fill in the next blank the more his head started to hurt. _Maybe there was some kind of accident? Yancy seemed to have been hurt too, so something could have happened.... That doesn’t seem quite right, Carolina wouldn’t have called in Jazmine for something as minor as that_. Trying to fill in the blanks with the little information he’d gleaned thus far, something bad happened, and everyone seems to be worried about him, including Yancy. _What did I say?_ _I don't want to say anything more, so maybe if I just wait it out, they’ll fill in where I can’t._ He forced himself to relax some, getting upset wouldn’t help him figure this puzzle out.  
Jaz inquires “What do you remember?”

_Damn, so much for the wait it out plan_. _They’re asking questions I don’t think they’ll like the answers I have for it. I have no idea what day, or even what time it is, so no way to tell how much time has passed since I went to bed. hmm_ , then he remembers he’s still partially drifting with Yancy, he can feel it in the back of his skull, like an ever present shadow, or an invisible friend. It feels like water trickling down the back of his mind, soothing him while also feeling strangely invigorating. Raleigh concentrates on the feeling, letting the watery sensation wrap around his mind. Consciously he can feel the tug and resistance that is his brother's’ mind. He projects the feeling of pain, Yancy looks sharply at him, and to help clarify the message he touches his neck with his good arm. Yancy calms a little bit, then concentrating more he projects the memory of the poker game with the Gages to Yancy. The message isn’t crystal clear, so he keeps thinking and projecting the memory of sparring with Bruce and Trevin before dinner, then poker again.  
Raleigh is looking at Yancy only, trying to avoid any additional pain. The room’s atmosphere started to dissipate from the tension he had been sensing. Yancy breaks his concentration by speaking.

“What day is it Jaz?”

“Huh? Oh,” she looks down at her watch, “its, Friday the 13th. Why?”

“If I’m understanding this correctly, Raleigh remembers the night before the attack, and then..” Yancy trails off with uncertainty. “I guess that’s it.” He shrugs at Jaz.

“Wait, how do you know that?! He didn’t say anything! Rals, what is he saying?” Jaz leans over the edge of the bed and is nearly in Raleigh’s face. He tries to move away, but is stuck in the bed, so he turns his head to his brother, pleading for help with his expression.

“Jaz, get out of his face,” Yancy reaches over and pushes at her shoulder, “He and I are drift partners Jaz. That’s how I know, so calm down, you’re going to freak him out even more.”

With Jaz out of his face Raleigh processes what just transpired, _she said, what? It was the 13th, of MARCH? Oh my god. That means its been… two weeks?!!_ He lost two weeks of his life in the bat of an eye?! _Where did they go?! No wonder Yancy looks terrible, its been two weeks since… since what?!_ Yancy say something about an attack, or did he say an accident? Puzzle pieces start to click together. His mind is spinning, racing to the only logical conclusion he can, there was a Kaiju attack. Somehow that lead to this, mentally gesturing up and down at himself and his brother. He carefully prods the drift connect, his concentration waning, he sends a feeler out to judge his brothers state of mental being. He gets a warm feeling of relief along with a frayed edge of nervousness that hasn’t fully dissipated. Raleigh tries to send soothing feelings towards his brother. When he suddenly realizes how bizarre this feeling is, to still be connected this much outside of a drift. It's not typical, _yeah they commonly ghost after a drift, but it usually dissipates within a day or so_. Leaving just a memory of the drift, and the anticipation of the next in its wake.

That was one too many things to process all at once. He dropped the thought. _Worry about that next, right now I need someone to tell me what conspired_. Before he can muster up the mental acuity to prod his brother for the information he is distracted by a nurse entering the room.

Kaida chirps a hello to Jaz. Then “visiting hours are up, you’ll have to excuse us for a little bit. Official business to be conducted.” She smiles, all the Beckets stare at her like she has three heads, Yancy recovers first, grabs ahold of Raleigh’s hand, Raleigh looks down at his hand then, perplexed by his brother’s reaction.

“Jazmine, you’re going to have to leave, you can come back in an hour or so. Please.” Nurse Tanaka is almost begging, but in such a sweet childlike tone it goes unheeded. She stares Jaz down. Jaz looks back and forth between the nurse and her brothers. Kaida huffs, then puts her hands on her hips, as two more medical staff enter the room.

With additional urging from Dr. Volakis, and Dr. Emmer, the standing Becket makes her way out of the room. She looks back over her shoulder to the two patients. The Drs. urge her to come back later, that the boys will be fine in the meantime.

Once the door clicks shut, Raleigh and Yancy submit to another evaluation. By this stage in being a Jaeger pilot both were far too familiar with being checked on inside and out. Dr. Emmer instructs Raleigh to answer with a thumbs up or thumbs down to most yes or no questions. Only allowed to respond with as few words as possible. Yancy is also prodded but no limitations to his speech, although he seems too distracted to elaborate more than necessary to the questions asked of him.

Raleigh recoils from the light being shone into his eyes. _It's too bright_ , despite the spots floating through his field of view, the light seems to penetrate directly into his skull. He throws his good arm up reflexively to shield himself from it. The rest of the exam goes by, without notice. Before leaving Dr. Volakis and Dr. Emmer confer notes and review their charts. Kaida runs in and out a few times, she seems to be checking a schedule. The Drs turn back to the patients, both eagerly waiting for news.

Cutting through any bedside manner Dr Volakis states plainly “You’ll both be on a regular physical therapy regimen starting tomorrow. Dr. Lightcap should be here,” she looks down at her watch before continuing, “today, sometime. Anyway, you’ll be back on regular psych evals after this week.” She turns to the older doctor then.

He clears his throat, looks over to Kaida, mumbles something to her, jots down a note on Raleigh’s chart. Looking at Raleigh finally, “You’re being scheduled for surgery next friday. That way we have enough time to know if it will clear on its own or not.”

Yancy interrupts, “Is this going to be an issue after the surgery?” Raleigh looks at his brother now, _It's me they’re talking about and you’re the one worried? calm down Yancy, he seems to think it’ll be fine, so let's not make a mountain out of a molehill._ He levels a stare at Yancy, quirks his eyebrow up to hopefully get him to shut up.

Dr Emmer continues, looking at Yancy now, even though Raleigh is looking at him too. “No this is a minor procedure to correct the tear in his eyes. But we like to wait as a precaution, should something else make itself known before then. Surgery on any part of the head is not something one does without consideration first.” The docs banter back and forth about the other minor aches and pains they are going to be put through on the road to recovery. Raleigh doesn’t really care anymore, he can feel the pull of the drift, like water lapping at his feat. Its drawing him back in. Peaceful and comforting.

When he looks around next the doctors are heading out the door, Yancy relaxing into his bed. _Maybe he feels it too?_ But before Raleigh can concentrate on the idea another loud noise catches his attention. He looks up to the door, to see the doctors hurrying out and another one bustles in with a taller figure in tow.

Yancy looks over at the newcomers and perks up from his semi slumber. “Hey Doc! They said you were coming today, didn’t expect you so soon though.”  
The woman is a flurry of movement, Raleigh finds her hard to track, the taller man is more sedate, so Raleigh focuses on getting a better look at him. _Ah!_ A lightbulb goes on, _its Lightcap and Sergio! I’ve missed these two, they were always such a blast to hang out with and talk shop, even when they were still cadets in the academy._ Sergio approaches them, Raleigh reaches out across himself to shake his hand.

“Hey! bon de vous voir, été un moment.” Sergio freezes mid shake, looks over at Yancy and Caitlin. Sergio’s smile slides off his face, Raleigh lets go of Sergio's hand like he’s been burnt by it.

Yancy comes to the rescue, “He’s happy to see you. He’s not allowed to say much anyway so don’t worry about conversing with us much.” Yancy makes a nervous laugh, Raleigh can feel it through the drift, that unease and tension is creeping back into his brother’s frame. “If you two hadn’t shown up we would have been asleep in a moment.”

Caitlin smiles at them, “Well who am I to interrupt a well deserved rest after a rough battle with Kaiju? We just wanted to stop in and say hi before we have to come back and poke you on official business.” She jabbed at Yancy’s shoulder then with an index finger, Yancy smiled in return.

“Thanks, Doc. We look forward to it I’m sure.” He turns to Raleigh, smiles a little more genuinely, still tension around the edges of his face.

“Merci” Raleigh nods to them as they both make to leave as quickly as they came. He wants to ask why they left so quickly, but the drift is still calling his name, and he can see Yancy relaxing again.

In a moment they both have relaxed into slumber. Maybe its full of dreams or memories, Raleigh’s not sure where one begins and the other ends anymore. But he’s with his brother, and Jaz isn’t far, so he can relax for now.

 

* * *

 

“What do you mean no big deal?!”  
“Jaz, relax, the doctors don’t seem upset about it. They say it’s very routine, and minor, no reason to talk at that decibel.” Yancy says as Raleigh tries to plug up his ear to make a point of how loud she is being.  
“Sure you say that now, but do you know the number of people that die during,” she throws up air quotes “routine surgery, every year?! Hhffft.”

It was a whole day later that they boys told their sister about their diagnosis, and she was none too pleased to hear it. Both Yancy and Jaz seemed to have relaxed around Raleigh, he still couldn’t figure out why everyone was walking on eggshells around him the day before.

“When is it scheduled?” Jaz breaks into Raleigh’s thoughts again.  
“Huh? Uh, oh its on Friday I think is what they said."

"You can double check with the nurse, she helped them set it up.” Yancy supplies helpfully.

  
Jaz exhales loudly, making an even more cross face, but it's more show than real heat. Its gone in another moment. “Oh of course it would have to be that day! I want you both to promise me you will call me when you’re out of surgery!” She jumps up and grabs one hand from both brothers, shakes them lightly for emphasis. “Promise me! I may be in school half way across the world but that doesn’t mean you can just forget about me any more! You got that?!”

Raleigh turns to Yance and smirks, before both of them nodding their heads and saying in sync “Yes Mam!”

She lets go of their hands at the reply. Sitting back down in her chair, she puts her feet up on the edge of Raleigh’s bed. “You two are such a pain in the ass! With your clever little in jokes and drifty shit!” She waves her hands in a wild gesture to indicate both of them.

In Mock horror Raleigh feigns distress, throwing his head back on the pillow, places the back of his hand to his forehead, “Oh no! Whatever shall I do?! The Lady has seen fit to be angry with me!” He smirks, Yancy chuckling along with him, Yance mirrors the gesture of distress.

“Oh, tis such a waste and a pity!” Hahaha, their laughter rings out, bringing a true smile to Jazmine’s lips.

“If you both weren’t banged up already I’d smother you both with a pillow! And don't forget you're still not supposed to talking too much Raleigh!”

Raleigh quick to reply, “Not even to laugh?” haha, he gets a poke in the cheek for that. “ow!” She flinches back instantly, He rolls his eyes, conveying an 'Oh come on' expression, "That was a joke."

Yancy picks up where Raleigh leaves off, saving him from more of Jaz' wrath. "I’m sure it’ll be fine, but yes, we will make sure to keep you in the loop.” One day back and she is already firmly back in her role as little sister knows best, but without any of the anger or animosity Raleigh remembers her having when they were growing up.  “Don’t worry Jaz. I’ll make sure to keep you in the loop.”

Just then another nurse popped into the room. Raleigh didn’t recognize her, but Jazmine seemed to, exchanging cheerful hellos.  
Priyasha looked at Jazmine when she interrupted “Excuse me, but I need to borrow Ranger Becket.”  
Jaz snorts at this, with a huff she adds “Which one?! Go ahead and take ‘em both if you like!” She makes a big show of falling back into her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.  
Priyasha smiles brightly at this, “Oh I suppose so, I’ll be taking Yancy first, if you don’t mind?” She directs the last part to Yancy himself. He looks back at Jaz and Raleigh.

“Go on old man! Get your workout in while you still can.” Raleigh smirks at his usual jibe. Yancy doesn’t take the bait, just shakes his head at both younger siblings.

After the physical therapist had gotten Yancy into a wheelchair, she rolled him out of the room. A happy wave and they were gone. Leaving Raleigh alone with Jaz. Raleigh is caught off guard when Jazmine asks “What’s it like?”  
He isn’t sure of what she means. He raises an eyebrow at the question. Hoping she will elaborate on the what.  
“Drifting, piloting a Jaeger, being inside someone else’s head?”  
“Well, its not just ‘Someone else’ now, its Yancy we’re talking about. Drifting and piloting are, well incredible and scary all at once. The drift kinda feels like standing on the beach, with the tide coming in...” he trails off. I don’t know if she will understand it, the feeling of being inside the drift, and being apart of it at the same time. Thinking of how to respond. “I don’t know, its hard to describe. Is there something more particular you were trying to find out?” _Maybe if I know what you’re after I can get to point quicker. I’m sure me rambling about jaeger stuff isn’t going to interest you much._

They fall into a companionable silence for a while. Jazmine seems to digest this answer for a while. Then just as suddenly she picks up a more mundane conversation, starts talking at her brother. Raleigh likes being able to talk to his sister, but there are some things he doesn’t know how to articulate, things Yancy knows that he wouldn’t say out loud in a million years. But those thoughts and feelings are still there, always there, waiting in the drift. _Maybe I’ll think about it some more, formulate some kind of answer for you Jaz. For now it’s something that’s been a part of my life without me ever really stopping to think about the thing itself, what it does in relation to the Jaeger and the drift with Yancy, sure. But to just think about what the drift itself is like?_ Hadn’t occurred to him to spend time thinking about.

Before long Yancy has returned, and its Raleigh’s turn for his physical therapy eval. _Oh goodie, another test. Ugh, things I used to take for granted, not being prodded and poked like a piece of meat every other day. Not that I mind it much really, if I get to help people and fight along side Yancy, its a price I’ll pay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation note:  
> Hey! bon de vous voir, été un moment= Hey Good to see you, been a while
> 
> Hope you enjoy this, it was like pulling teeth to get this chapter out, I wrote it from 4 different perspectives before I found the voice I wanted, Raleigh finally decided to be cooperative. This has not been beta'd so please let me know of any errors you may catch.
> 
> Please read and review. Things related to this fic can be found on my tumblr [ "archerybushidokid" ](http://archerybushidokid.tumblr.com/)


	12. This Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yancy talks to some senior Rangers. Raleigh plays a joke on them. Jaz is worried about Raleigh, Raleigh worries about Jaz and Yancy helps keep the peace with everyone, despite his own worries. Raleigh gets a workout in followed by an unexpected crash. Priyasha plays the role of comforter in this chapter. Dr Lightcap makes a cameo appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter inspired by Josef Salvat's "This Life"
> 
> All French translations are found bracketed by =translation=
> 
> warning there is a detailed description of a panic attack. Please skip Raleigh's POV section if that is a problem for you.

**Chapter 12 This Life**

**Medical Bay  
**

**March 12~13, 2020**

Yancy can’t tell who is more flustered the Gages or Sergio. They all came by today to hangout and wish both Beckets well.  But unfortunately Raleigh, although given permission to speak more freely, and choosing to exercise this right, is unknowingly speaking in French again.  Sergio is giving his younger brother the side eye, like he’s doing this on purpose to try and get a rise out of him.  But as he continues to stare and Raleigh just continues to look confused the other rangers look to Yancy for answers.  Trying to save all present from any more undue stress Yancy fills them in.

 

“He’s not doing it consciously, if that is what you’re wondering. He seems to slip in and out of it, depending on the day.” Trevin and Bruce both look up sharply at Yancy.  “Right now, the doc’s think its just a side effect of the trauma, it could go away in a few days, or it might be more serious.  But for now, know that he understands you, even if you don’t him.”  

 

Bruce laughs at this, Yancy quirks an eyebrow, wondering whats so funny?.  “haha. oh it’s just like when you first woke, haha, oh ah… I had no idea what you were saying, I freaked out! Had to have Carolina come and calm you down, I was useless.” He laughs it off, but there is a tension in his posture that belies his casual air.  

 

Yancy doesn’t remember it, but nods his understanding.  

Raleigh looks over at Yancy, “Pourquoi continuez-vous à me répéter?” =why do you keep repeating me?=

Bruce, Trevin and Sergio all look to Yancy for a translation. If it were any other scenario Yancy might find this comical. He rolls his eyes, ignores the “chorus girls” response, and addresses his brother directly.

“You’re speaking French.”

“Je Suis? Non, je ne suis pas”

“Yeah. You are.” Yancy waves a hand at the assembled visitors, “And they don’t speak any of it. so I’m translating.”

Raleigh seems to ponder this for a moment.  His features crinkle up for a moment.  Then slowly he says “aucun? pas français du tout?” =none? no french at all?= He’s addressing the room. They all look from Raleigh to Yancy, waiting for his translation.  

Exhaling loudly Yancy is no longer amused by this, not that he was really amused in the first place. Addressing Raleigh still, Yancy retorts, “No, none.” Gesturing at them once again, he continues “See the blank faces? Their lack of response? Yeah, that’s why.”

“we can leave, if we’re a pain.” Sergio starts to get up from his chair.

“No its no bother. Its just the first time I’ve had to tell Raleigh. Sorry I didn’t tell him before. I was...”

 

Yancy is interrupted when Raleigh blurts out “Lightcap est trop intelligent pour son mari.”=lightcap is too smart for her husband=. Yancy comes up short and stares at his brother.  Rals is smirking like a cat that just got the cream.  Almost malicious but just a dash short of it, laughter sparkling in his eyes.   _Oh you clever little brat!_ The chorus girls look to Yancy one more time, and he considers translating it when Raleigh continues. “Mauvaises Rangers Big abattus par françaises? Vous pariez que je vais profiter de ce tout que je peux!” =big bad rangers brought down by french? you bet I’ll enjoy it while i can.=

Yancy blinks twice before he loses his composure and laughs out loud at it.  Raleigh has a point, it’s not often he can get a joke like this over the senior rangers.  

 

“des licornes et des arcs en ciel” Raleigh continues his joke.

Yancy looks at him, then breaks out in peals of laughter.  The Gages now look at Yancy like he’s lost his mind.  Because what does it matter what Raleigh says, only Yancy knows right now.  

Raleigh adds as an aside to Yancy, when he gets under control again, “Dites-leur qu'il était drôle.”-=tell them it was funny.=

 

“Okay what did he say?! really, you got to let us in on it. We could just as easily leave.” Sergio squares a serious look at Yancy.  

 

Yancy wipes a tear from his eyes, before addressing their guests, “He says its funny. You should laugh too.”  Yancy chuckles a bit more before clearing his throat.  “Raleigh do you have anything else to say to our guests?” Yancy gives his brother a look along with a memory of the time using French to talk smack in front of people backfired on him.  Raleigh frowns at the thought, burying it under waves of emotion and merriment through the drift.  

Raleigh’s new found joke is short lived when Jazmine returns to the room.

 

“oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize everyone was here.” She pauses, looking at her brothers for a moment.

Yancy quickly picks up where his sis left off, “Jazmine please meet Rangers D’onfirio,” a head nod to Sergio closest to her, “Rangers Gage, Bruce on the right, Trevin on the left.” They all shake hands cordially, Yancy adds, “This is Jazmine, our sister if you didn’t pick up on the resemblance.”

She smiles, Raleigh the only other person able to smile that brightly, and nods to each in turn. “Nice to meet all of you. I hate to break up all the male camaraderie but I just ran into Priyasha.  She’s on her way up shortly for Raleigh’s next session.”

 

Raleigh actually lights up at the mention of his physical therapist.

Yancy quirks his head at his brother, unspoken question.

“Je peux lui parler, elle parle français.” =i can talk to her, she speaks french=. Raleigh says, but there is something more to it than that.  Yancy can feel a bit of anxiety, just a fragment of a glimmer, and its gone. Yancy doesn’t have a chance to catch anything more before Jaz breaks his concentration.

 

“Oi, I speak French too!” Jaz looks cross at Raleigh.  

 

Raleigh huffs at his sister.  Yancy cuts them both off before it escalates, “Jaz,” her attention on Yancy, he makes a gesture towards the rest of the Rangers in the room, “they don’t. That's his issue.”  Yancy turns back to the group, “You’re welcome to stay and chat with me. Jaz, you going or staying?”

 

She bites her lower lip for a moment, then looks at the Rangers assembled, “I think I’ll sit in on Raleigh’s session, if he doesn’t mind?” He shakes his head, and smiles at his sis again, nope, he doesn’t mind.  

 

Just as that is settled Priyasha comes in. “Hello, Oh Hello Rangers! I'm going to crash this party," looking to the middle Becket, he nods "are you ready Raleigh?”

 

“Aussi prêt que possible.”= Ready as I’m going to be.=

“Pardon me gentlemen, we’ll be out of your way in a moment.” She nods to the assembled rangers.

“Priyasha, mind if I join you too?”

“Raleigh?” she looks to him, waiting calmly for a response.  

“Plus on est de fous, plus on rit.” =The more the merrier.= But his response lacks his usual enthusiasm. Not dull enough for others to notice, but it’s enough to grab Yancy’s attention.

Yancy is distracted by this thought long enough to almost miss their departure.  After getting Rals into a wheelchair and comfortable, they roll out, Raleigh already telling Jaz and Priyasha the joke the other Rangers wouldn’t get.  Yancy smirks as they close the door behind them, _maybe I’m just imagining Raleigh’s mood change._

 

Bruce breaks the lull first, “Have you always spoken French?”

 

Yancy pulled from his thoughts, turns to look at his guests again. “Huh? Oh, yeah, our mom was French, so technically it was our first language.”

 

“Well that explains why you might default to it then.” Hmmm, Trevin seems to muse over this.

 

Yancy cuts him off, “Enough about me, what is going on with you? I’ve been out of it for a bit.  Did I miss anything exciting?”  

Bruce and Trevin babble back and forth about a systems upgrade to Romeo, and start to talk about other Jaeger related topics. They chat for a while, drifting from topic to topic.  Its peaceful, and relaxes Yancy despite the lack of his brother’s presence.   _Did they plan this to distract me?  Meh, either way it’s welcome ._

After a lull in conversation Yancy wonders, _can I trust these guys? of course I can they’re all rangers after all._  So he dares to voice one of the concerns. “Can I ask you a personal question?” He waits, but doesn’t make eye contact with any of them.  

 

“Yeah, sure, you can ask…” the “but” hanging plain for all in the room.

 

“Well its more drift related... that kind of personal…”

 

Sergio speaks up for the three of them, “Yeah go ahead, What is it?”

 

“Have you ever felt the drift….” looking for the right way to phrase it, “like it was a tangible piece of you? Like it was a switch in the back of your brain? You could turn on or off? whenever you wanted…”

 

Sergio nods, trying to remember something. “I think I’ve heard of that before, I’ve not experienced it myself. But I can’t quite remember who...” He looks over to the twins, they both just shrug their shoulders, at a loss for words. “Yancy, I wouldn’t worry about it. But I’ll let Caitlin know, she has logs for that kind of stuff. Besides I don’t dare share someone else’s info without full disclosure before hand.” He purses his lips for a moment longer before adding, “It shouldn’t have any effect on your ability to pilot, if that is what worries you.”

 

“Wouldn’t that make it easier to pilot?” Trevin adds in, looking between Sergio and Yancy.  

 

“I would think so, but the drift isn’t always as clear as we want it to be. New technology, and the human brain are both mysteries some days.”  Sergio then smiles.  

 

Yancy is heartened by the response, he was beginning to worry that something horrible had gone wrong with him and Rals. _But Trevin has to be right, that kind of connection would make piloting easier, not harder._  If only he could figure out why it felt like this, like he can concentrate and enter the drift at will.  It's never felt like this before, so he can’t be blamed for being cautious of a new sensation.  “Thanks Sergio.”

 

“Don’t mention it. Caitlin and I may be pioneers, but we’re far from knowing everything about the drift.  Everyone's brains react differently to situations, same is true of smashing two minds together in a giant robot.” The smiles are back on everyone’s faces.  “Speaking of Giant robots, did you see the launch of the Mark 5?”

“Oh its amazing! Have you seen the legs on that guy? He’s got some speed.” Trevin whistles in appreciation of Strikers ability, so unlike their own Romeo.

 

“The Hansens got that one right?” Sergio asks as Trevin nods vehemently. “Caitlin doted on Chuck almost as much as she did your baby bro going through the academy. But Rals had that endearing child like quality that the younger Hansen doesn’t display, even if he is younger.”

Yancy looks a bit surprised, he knew there’s no age limit to enter the academy, but he finds it hard to swallow being under 18 and piloting a jaeger. “wait? He’s not even 18 yet?” Whistle of appreciation for surviving the academy at that age. “There goes Raleigh’s claim to fame.” Yancy chuckled at that.

 

“I don’t think it’s something anyone wants to brag about.  Besides Raleigh still holds the record for most sociable kid,” Bruce winks at Yancy, “ while at the academy. Chuck didn’t break every record.”

Yancy looks at Bruce, he hasn’t met the kid personally, but he’s heard stories.  “What, he too busy trying to grow up?” Yancy guesses.

Trevin and Bruce look between each other, “Hmmm… How do I put this?” Looking to Sergio, “I believe its more a Macho, competitive thing he’s got.”

“No,” Bruce corrects Trevin, “He’s out to beat his old man.”

Now Yancy looks confused. “Wait, I thought he was co-piloting with Herc?”  

Bruce nods, then adds “You heard right, but the kid has one heck of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to his copilot. Frankly I’m surprised they are even drift compatible some days, from the stories I’ve heard of their antics outside the con pod.”

“Oh” is all Yancy can think to say. _I can’t imagine having that kind of relationship with a drift partner._  He’s reminded of his open connection again, and prods at it a little, for once getting no real emotional sensation from his brother.  Just the sensation of breathing. _Hmm, well that might just be his focus. Maybe I imagined the anxiety before._

 

“...Yance?”

“Oh sorry. Just got a little lost in thought.”

“Right... “ Sergio makes a hand gesture, “We’ve monopolized enough of your time.  I’m sure your brother is going to be back soon.  We should be off too.”  The Twins and Sergio all stand up from their seats, nodding to each other.  “I’ll see you when Cait comes by next, probably in another day.”

“Thanks,” Yancy shakes their hands before they’re off.  Tiredness seeping back into his mind and body, he begins to stare off into nothing, as time passes without notice.  

 

 

* * *

Caitlin pulled all the records from May 2016, Tokyo.  All the names have been redacted in the hard copies she is viewing, but its no matter to her, she knows all the names by heart still.  Maybe someday someone might review these records, and not know the people the scans belonged to, or know the look of pain in the eyes of a Ranger that just lost a partner.  Future researchers won’t have all the people who are in the files in their cell phone on quick dial.  She shakes the darker thoughts away, and gets back to work, there is a lot to do and never enough time before another Kaiju appears.  

 

* * *

 

Raleigh, despite the pain that came with it, enjoyed his physical therapy sessions so far.  Priyasha is very good at what she does, directing him through slow grueling exercises and stretches, one after another.  Being reconnected to his physical self helps clear his head.  He can ignore the nagging feeling that he is missing something.  He can ignore the anxiety he is hiding about what else might be wrong with his head, he can ignore the way Jaz and Yancy keep looking at him.  Even if he didn’t see all of it, he could feel their gaze like a laser beam, and now he knows why they are puppeting him occasionally. _But enough of those thoughts for the moment._  Raleigh turned his mind off entirely, not worrying, thinking, not feeling, no happiness, no sadness or anger, just reveling in the sensation in his limbs.  Focusing solely on how his muscles burn and ache.  His mind taking a back seat to a shoulder roll, his worries melting into a hip flex.  

 

Raleigh even went as far to ignore Jaz’s presence entirely. He didn’t really register Yasha’s presence either, sure there was a body there, hands leading him into positions, pushing on him further.  But those hands weren’t looking at him, or judging him, they were just there, guides without opinions or expectations.  

 

At the end of the session he is sweating, sitting on the mat, gaze unfocused again. _Breathe in through the mouth, exhale thru the nose.  Inhale, hold, exhale, pause, inhale, hold, exhale, pause .   Controlled breathing_ _,_ feeling his heartbeat calm into a steady rhythm.  When out of nowhere a treacherous thought snuck into his head. _What if this is all I’ll ever be anymore? A dilapidated loose cannon, holding my brother back?_  He quickly banished it again as Jazmine is in his face, that playful grin to her lips, the one she uses to cover up something. She’s hiding something from him, he forgets his own worries for the moment.

 

“Hey! Ground control to Raleigh, you there?”

 

He rubs his hand over his face, wiping his sweat off on the towel Yasha offers him.  “Merci.” turning back to Jaz he states “Désolé, se sont perdus dans la pensée.”= sorry got lost in thought.=

 

“Well quit it, it’s time to get you to the showers before dinner time.” then she makes a face, Raleigh can’t quite tell what her expression is, when its gone faster than it took to overcome her features.  

 

Both women help him up off the matt and back into the wheelchair. He might be able to walk, but no sense in using all his energy up when they can wheel him there.  Once his strength returns he won’t have to submit to this. But under Jaz’s intense gaze and the flutter of something unknown in his gut, he sits quietly.   Jaz follows them to the shower before giving Raleigh a little bit of space and heads back to meet up with Yancy.  Raleigh winds his mind down again, lets him focus on how much energy he really has to do the few tasks before him.  

 

He almost forgets about Yasha until she pops her head in front of his face. “Let me get your sling off and cover your cast before you get it all wet.”

 

He is feeling the sessions activity weigh on his muscles and merely nods consent.  She buzzes about him for a moment, he does exactly as she directs him.  She follows him into the shower area, helps him undress.  Wordlessly he turns his back to her as he relaxes into the stream of hot water.  Not only washing away some of his ache, but taking with it some of his fear and doubt. _I can do this, I will not be beaten by alien sea monsters, why would I let something as trivial as injury stop me. Yan and I can take anything on_. He lathers and scrubs, letting the heat soak into his mind as well as his body.  Mantra returns, _inhale, hold, exhale, pause. Inhale, hold_ … several minutes pass as he focuses on the here and now.  He feels tired but in control of himself.  

 

The feeling is shattered in a split second when he feels hands on his back and shoulders.  A bolt of lightning runs through his body leaving ice in its wake.  His guts clench as the feeling settles there, his lungs seize up, his right arm grabs for the wall to steady himself, his legs lock up.  His arm the only functioning and responsive muscle he has left, but it’s not enough to keep him stabilized.  He slowly bends his elbow to rest his forehead against the shower wall.  His left arm and shoulder start to hurt, a phantom throb of a pain that only his muscles remember, his head can’t keep up with it. Everything and nothing happen all in that moment.  

 

The hands are there again, followed by a voice, a soft, calm voice. Raleigh’s back and shoulders tense and lock up, trying to avoid the touch.  He can barely keep himself upright. The sound of the water around him too loud suddenly.  He can’t make out the words, the water and his heart beat drowning out the recognition his mind is seeking.  His heart is racing, even as he wants to shiver from the chill running through him.  He closes his eyes tight, hoping to focus again.  

 

Creasing his brow to stay centered, he finally hears, “...Raleigh, relax, I’ve got you.” The voice is close to him, he can feel her breathe on his ear, the water stopped at some point. “Don’t worry, this happens, Raleigh.  This is only you and me, no one else. Relax, Breath.”  His frantic mind can’t figure out who else she might even be talking about right now.  But he does understand breathing, he inhales deeply, whatever had wrapped around his chest releases as he shuns all thoughts but inhale, hold, exhale, pause, inhale, hold..   his heart slows down to normal, his breathing paced.

“...Raleigh, Raleigh.”

“hnn” all the response he manages. Who is it? Where am I?

“Here’s a towel, let’s get you dried off.” Her voice is calm, _Its Priyasha, I’m in the shower._   Returning to himself he nods slowly. What was that about? Clearing his mind, he takes the towel handed to him.  Numbly he puts the clothes.  Then follows the lead of the arms wrapped around his, to a chair.  

Leaning way back, he hears “... you ready? I’m going to turn the water on, and shampoo your hair…”

 

“umm.” it’s more of a noise in his throat than an acknowledgement.  

 

She carefully wets his head, while delicately handling the skin around his scars, the whole in his skull still sensitive.  The hair that was shaved has started to grow back, while the rest of his hair is overdue for a good scrub.  She is quick and efficient getting his hair clean and dried.  He continues to follow her lead as she carefully gets him up from the shampoo station to another wheelchair.  He is wheeled back to where his brother and sister wait.  

 

Once in the room, Priyasha gets him back into bed without incident.  Exhaustion finding its way back into his body, Raleigh relaxes into the bed.  Thankful to be back with his family, and yet also ready to sleep again.  

 

Jaz ruins the moment “What took you? Hnn” She snarks it a bit, meant to be a joke at Raleigh’s expense. But he doesn’t have the energy to formulate words in any language beyond a grunt.

 

“Seems there was a little bit of an issue with the hot water.  Sorry it took us so long Jazmine.” Priyasha counters his sisters quip.   _She’s lying, why?_ Raleigh can’t keep up with anything anymore.  

 

“No worries, you got him back in one piece.” Yancy saves everyone any awkwardness.  He smiles at the polite nurse before she gives the Beckets a slight bow and departs.  

_Today was just as many mysteries as answers. I’ll have to deal with this later, for now sleep..._

 

As Raleigh strays into sleep he doesn’t notice that Yancy creases his brow in concern, and Jaz arches an eyebrow in uncertain question.  Yancy watching his brother, says nothing more.  

 

 

* * *

She pulls up the files of the most recent scans from the Beckets done only a month ago.  The PPDC has rangers on a quarterly scanning schedule.  

She pulled them up, placing the before scans next to the ones from May 2016.  Besides being two different people the scans show some easy to spot differences, if you know what you’re looking at.  She hopes that this time, its different.  Then there is a small and guilty feeling part of her that is excited at the prospect of learning something new about the human brain, and its resiliency to survive. Despite the fact that both pilots in question should be dead, for multiple reasons, they aren’t and in fact are thriving despite it.  She is a bit nervous, unlike the previous case, both pilots are able and willing to drift again.  What could this mean?  Is there something she can do to help Rangers in the future survive against the ever rising odds?  If one pilot is incapacitated the other should, no needs to continue on, finish the fight.  These two pilots did it, what is saying that there isn’t something she can do? something these pilots had that she could somehow replicate or add to AI or other systems to help compensate for that something these pilots had that could help the others…


	13. Unsteady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drift compatible after the Knifehead incident? Jaz isn't the only one worried about Raleigh and Yancy. Caitlin Lightcap is butting heads again, and Sergio has a heart to heart with Stacker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the huge delay in posting. My muses ran a muck with "How Deep is Your Love?" and side tracked this story. But I think I'm back on the path. hoping to stay there too, until I get to an end (the hardest part).

**Chapter 13 X Ambassadors “Unsteady”**

**Anchorage Simulator Labs and Drift Science Department**

**March 15~20, 2020**

 

Caitlin is replaying what Sergio said this morning in her head.  She just got into the lab and what he said somehow nags at the back of her brain. _What is it that he said Yancy felt? I should just go down to the med bay and talk to them myself._ But then she remembers, Sergio told her Yancy thinks the drift is a switch to turn on and off, or along those lines. The Beckets always had high drift sync ratios, but this is more remarkable than that.  She remembers someone saying it before, and she runs over her digital logs to jog her memory.

Typing furiously into her computer, waits only a fraction of a second for the result, single result. She sits down heavily in her chair, staring at the screen in disbelief.  

She brings her hand up to cover her mouth as she breathes “No way, this is too much.” Recovering quickly she grabs the phone from the desk. Dials rapidly, her heart racing a bit faster, excitement flooding her system.

“Yes Marshall. I need some of your time.” She pauses, “You might be able to help the Beckets… Just come down to the labs at your first convenience. Thanks,” without waiting for any further response, she hangs up.

She sits back in her chair, staring at her computer again.  May 2016s File still open, a large note across the top reads “STATUS: INACTIVE”.  She smirks at it, “not so much anymore… wonder if the Marshall will be helpful, or if I’ll have to call up Tam…”

Her musings brought up short when Sergio walks into the lab. “Cait, you’re onto something, aren’t you?”

“Hmmm, Oh why would you say that?” She smiles sweetly at her husband.  She stands and gives him a peck on the cheek, before closing the files on screen. _No sense in jumping to conclusions._

 

“Oh I don’t know, just the jump in my pulse that says you are excited about something.” He raises an eyebrow and levels his wife with a _don’t Bull Shit with me_ stare.

 

She smiles a bit deviously.  “Oh Sergio, sweetheart.  You know how these things are, can’t say till I know more... “ her smile shifts into a shit eating grin, “BUT if you must know…” she steps into his embrace and laces her fingers together around his neck, stretching up to kiss him on the lips once more.  “Might be onto something, maybe even figuring out some finer drifting mechanics.”

 

Sergio leans down and kisses his wife soundly before pulling up and releasing her to step back.  He squints at her, getting a good look at her face.  “Well that sounds exciting. Why so suddenly?” He quirks an eyebrow at her.  

 

“Actually you might have helped with it, it’s what you said about the Beckets.  You had this feeling you’d heard something similar before, right? Well I cross checked the logs, and you’re right,” She swivels around to the computer again, brings up the file to show him, “It has been said before. And one of the people that reported it before is in this very Shatterdome.” She crosses her arms over her chest and smirks up at Sergio, “how about that?!”

Sergio whistles appreciatively.  “well I’ll be damned.”

 

* * *

 

Raleigh is anxious.  Raleigh looks over to Yancy, who is seated in a wheelchair next to him.  They are getting ready to go down to the labs for another round of tests.   _Jaz is still here, if she is calm, I should be too right?_ But it doesn’t work to convince himself.  Raleigh begins to wage an internal battle.   _What if Yance and I can’t drift anymore?_ part of him says, _How is that even possible, you’re drifting in you sleep! Literally, or that is the best conclusion to the sensation I’ve been having since I woke. But can we still sync up with a Jaeger?_

 

_“_ Raleigh, stop worrying. You’re making my head hurt.” Yancy states mundanely, calm and not upset in the least.

“How can you be so calm Yance?” Jaz looks sharply at Raleigh’s question.

“Easy, nothing I can change by worrying.” He sits back in his chair, almost relaxed.  “Besides, you know how the drift tests go, staying relaxed and calm helps. So Chill out bro!”

Raleigh looks up at Jaz, who shrugs her shoulders, lost for words. He lets out a long breath slowly, remembering their first simulator drift.  Which despite the numbers that said otherwise, was a hot mess.  Chasing the rabbit wasn’t even their issue then, it was getting caught up in each other’s emotional state and sensory overload.  Both Yancy and Raleigh vomited that day.  It got easier, each time they drifted it was easier to remain calm, and ignore all the other outside things, and just float in each other’s presence. Raleigh calms as he remembers drifting with Gipsy Danger.  They were so calm drifting with each other at that point that adding in the Jaeger AI felt like the cooling sensation of mint on the tongue.  He exhales again, his heart rate returning to normal.

 

Raleigh returns to the present when Jaz is centimeters from his face, nose to nose.   “Hey space cadet, welcome back to planet earth.”

She sounds so chipper it sets Raleigh’s teeth on edge, his loose grip on calm almost lost in an instant.

“Relax Idiot, I’m sure you’ll both be fine.” She pats Raleigh on the shoulder then gets out of his face.  Several nurses join them and they are off, rolling down the hall, on their way to the sim labs.

 

Raleigh forces himself into a conditioned calm, he closes his eyes and meditates in the way they were taught at the academy.   _Breathe in, be present in my own body, breathe out feel the sensations as they occur.  Don’t focus on anything outside yourself, prepare for the drift by calming my own thoughts_.  He continues to calm as he breathes in and out in a measured cadence.  

 

Squeak from the speakers breaks his concentration, “ready gentlemen?”

Snort, “I don’t know any gentlemen, but I’m ready anyway.” Raleigh is suddenly full of bravado.

Lightcap prompts “har har, Yancy?”

“yes mam!”

Crackle squeak “cut the soldier attitude. This is not an official test, this is just a sim, check the handshake. So calm down.”

Raleigh hears a long exhale next to him. He can’t help but tease his brother a little bit. “geez Yance, and you were the one telling me to relax. Take some of your own medicine dude.”

Raleigh doesn’t need to look at his brother to know he is giving him a death glare.  But his skin prickles slightly from the gaze focused on him.  

 

Crackle from the speakers, "Boys! Okay lets focus. This is just a run through preliminary cognitive tests.  Ready in 10, 9, 8… Drift sequence initiated”

Raleigh feels the sinking sensation and simultaneous vertigo that plunging into the drift has always brought.  Memories of his meme's lake cabin, high school prom dates of Yancy's,  jaz's first dance recital that their mother made them both go to.  They wash away quicker than usual, its just a test run, not full immersion and integration with Gipsy. (Raleigh never refers to their Jaeger by anything less than Gipsy, jaeger is a generic term used to refer to others, or a group of, but never their lady.)

 

* * *

 

Jaz is watching from the control room.  The woman/doctor had introduced herself as Caitlin something.  She seemed friendly and very familiar with both of her brothers.  There were two other techs in the control room, but the room seemed empty, several chairs and stations without anyone attending.  Jaz was watching through the large window into the simulator, as her brothers got hooked up to the monitoring devices and a modified “drift cap” as they called it.  

Jaz thought they both looked somewhere between lab rats and astronauts.  She`d laugh if Yancy and Rals didn`t look so serious.  Jaz holds her tongue, crossing her arms over her chest, as she stays out of the way.  She watches them carefully, taking note of everything.  After they are hooked up and the techs return to the control room she hears the monitors of heart rate ping to life, its not in sync, so the two hearts create a clamor of noise.  One of them is nervous, elevated heart rate.

She watches as Raleigh closes his eyes, and then after the exchange of words with the doctor Yancy glares at Raleigh.  The doctor seems to reprimand them like a school teacher would a student, not a ranking Military Doctor demeriting rowdy subordinates.

Just before the test starts Carolina slips into the control room.  She looks much more tired than when Jaz last saw her.  The woman has her mouth drawn out in a tense line, her eyes have bags under them, and her hair seems to have escaped the confines of its previous order.

Jaz waves to her, after acknowledging the doctor Carolina sidles up to Jaz.

Whispered “Hey”

“what are you doing here?” Carolina inquires.

Head gesture towards the doctor, “she said it was okay to observe, as long as I don’t interfere or get in the way. Why did you come?”

“Miss their drift test?” she shakes her head back and forth, as she too crosses her arms over her chest, tucking her hands under her armpits.  “It's like missing the big game. I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Besides Caitlin informed me of it, which is as good as an official invitation.” the older woman winked at Jaz.  Turning her attention back to the window and the occupants of the other room she says nothing more.  Jaz wonders exactly what she means by that.  Quickly followed by the thought, _Our real parents weren’t all that attentive to what we did_ .   _It must be nice to have that, even now._

The first thing Jaz notices after they drift is that their heart beats sync up.  The sound of a single heart beating, its eerie once you realize it's two.  Watching her brothers still, Jaz listens intently to the conversation and reporting from one tech to the next, and the back and forth muttering of the doctor herself.  

 

The first two cognitive puzzles are rather boring to watch, Raleigh mimics Yancy’s tender movements of his right arm, but they take it slow and get through them without incident.  It's when they were half way through the third puzzle that chaos broke out. They were moving steadily, when Yancy stretched his arm, they both yelped and the control room was up and moving.

“Gipsy one is chasing the rabit.”

Lightcap grabs the mic “Yancy, you’re falling out of alignment!”

Yance looks like he is trying to shake something out of his head.

“Doctor! Gipsy two is going out of alignment too and… I don’t believe this.” Caitlin turns to stare at the technician at the drift monitor station.

“What?! What is it?”

The tech looks up, past Lightcap and toward the Beckets. Her jaw drops, and she points. Caitlin looks a bit pissed off, she stomps over to the station, looking at screens before she too looks up at the Rangers in the simulator. Now Jaz is looking at her brothers too, _what is so amazing?_ Then Jaz realizes both Yancy and Raleigh’s heads have fallen back onto the headrest. “What happened to them?!” Jaz asks, a hint of panic in her tone.

 

Caitlin looks her in the face before responding. Slowly and a bit awestruck, “They fell asleep”

 

“That all? Why do you all look so awestruck?” Jaz looks back over her shoulder to her brothers, still breathing, still in their simulator chairs.  Witty retorts pop into Jaz’s mind, _you think sleeping is amazing you should see them drunk. haha, I’ve seen them fall asleep faster than that before..._

 

Caitlin stares at them for a moment more before responding without looking away from them. “They’re still drifting. In their sleep.”

 

Carolina is right next to Jaz, staring at doctor Lightcap.  “We going to stare at them or do something?”

 

Caitlin blinks a few times, seems to return to the present, and looks at the screen and the tech at the station again.   “This has never happened before.  We’ve had the drift disintegrate... before the pilots pass out.  But I don’t know if it’s a good idea to separate them while still drifting.  Or what kind of response they’ll have if we wake them while drifting…” The tech looks at Dr. Lightcap, whispers something, Lightcap continues “we might just wait and see if they come out of it on their own.” The tech and doctor mumble some more back and forth, Jaz stops paying attention.  She is staring at her brothers, mostly motionless forms, _sleeping away huh? I knew you two were lazy, but this is a new level._

 

Her thoughts are interrupted when she hears more commotion in the control room. “What?! are you sure? what happened?! Show me the scan playback,” Pointing to Carolina who is making her way towards the door to the sim room, “Do Not go in there Carolina! I need to confirm how this happened before I can say it’s safe to wake them.” That seems to stop the PR rep in her tracks.

The Doctor and Tech hunch over the screen as they squint at the brain scan information from a few minutes earlier.  

Jaz too curious to stand there staring at nothing happening walks up to the station they are pouring over. Carolina joins her, and they both peer over the other womens’ shoulders.  The one other tech in the room continues to maintain his station, monitoring the rangers’ vitals.

There is more mumbles, and acronyms thrown back and forth, with some pointing.  Jaz gets a glimpse of the scans but she isn’t a brain surgeon or a human chemistry scientist either, so it just looks like funny colors flashing across the screen in slow motion.  

“Well?!” Carolina finally gets impatient for information.

“Huh?” Caitlin is startled and turns around right in the older womans face. “Oh right, sorry. I think this was a domino effect of sorts.  It would be best to let them wake naturally, startling them awake could leave them with side effects.”

“Well what caused this?!” Carolina looks pissed now, she hates being forced to wait.

“shh, Call up….” Lightcap holds her hand up to Carolina and Jazmine, a quick thought being conveyed to the drift tech.  The tech quickly picks up a phone, as Lightcap turns to the other room occupant, “How are their vitals?”

“holding steady. No danger as far as I can see Doctor.”

“Okay, good. Let me know if that changes at any point,” she turns back to Carolina, who is just this side of blowing up. “Sorry Carolina, but I need to make sure what triggered it before I can even consider waking them. Remember what happened to Mammoth Apostle’s pilots when they aborted their test mid run?” An eyebrow quirk, and a don’t mess with me look crosses Carolina’s face. Then she looks away trying to recall said incident, an ‘oh’ replacing the previous look of confusion.  

 

“right…” stepping back, Carolina is willing to wait it seems.

 

Jaz takes her chances with the PR rep over Dr Lightcap, who is rewatching the previous scan information one more time. Stepping over to Mrs Olivares Jaz whispers out of the side of her mouth while still watching the front of the room, “What happened to the other rangers?”

Looking directly at Jaz, Carolina’s face scrunches up in annoyance, “what do you…” she pauses to register who asked the question. “Sorry, I forget you aren’t PPDC.  Let it suffice to say there was a very rough week for two ladies that could have avoided the whole situation.  They recovered, but if we can not cause any additional undue trauma here, the better.”  

“Ah, so on a scale of one to ten, ten being ‘OMG they’re dead Jim!’, how bad would it be to force them awake while drifting?”

Carolina looks back at the two rangers asleep in the simulator.  “I wouldn’t know. This,” she gestures toward the simulator, “has never happened before. But interrupting an active drift is considered on the top ten of ‘don’t go there’ in the program. ”

“oh” Jaz looks at her now, chewing it over.  “a best guess then?” prompting her to focus on it. Quirking her eyebrows up, a rather sheepish look crossing her face, Carolina glances at Jaz before responding.

“Hmm, if I read the initial scan correctly, I’d put this at about a 6.  It’s not going to kill them, but in the state their already in...” the end of sentence hangs in the air unspoken, _bad things_.

“They that far out of sync?!”

Carolina snaps her head around to look directly at Jazmine. Her brows drawn together, a bit of shock mixed with her previously anxious look.  Jaz is taken aback by the look she is receiving. “No quite the opposite! They’re in the 90 percentile of sync ratios.  Being out of the con pod for over a month, it’s surprising how quickly they drifted!”

Carolina’s face softens as she continues.  “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to run in there and shake them awake and demand answers for this!” Wild hand gestures again, “Huff!”  Carolina crosses her arms over her chest.  Leans back on the desk of the station behind her. A look of annoyance settling on her face.

 

Jaz considers Carolina for a moment, _she really is the mother hen of Gipsy Danger.  Hmmm_ , Jaz then turns her attention back to the Dr. and her assistants.  There are two techs with the doctor now, one just came in to join them, the third tech still sitting in back.  Jaz watches them point and confer and discuss things as time ticks away.  Jaz takes it all in. The tech in the back of the room, very un-phased continues to monitor the Ranger’s vital signs.  The three women huddled around the “brain scan” station, then looks back to her brothers.  

She looks at them with greater attention to detail.  Yancy looks so much smaller asleep, his scrapes and bruises still healing, his arm still bandaged up.  Raleigh looks even younger in his sleep than he did awake, his left arm in a cast and sling.  They twitch in their sleep as Jaz watches, Carolina is watching them too. The PR rep stands up from her slouched position, catching Jaz’s attention again.  

An idea pops into her mind, and without hesitation says “What if it was a physical reaction not a mental one?”

Carolina looks at her, eyebrows shooting up, her jaw falling open slightly.

Caitlin’s head shoots up to stare at Carolina and Jazmine, her mouth also falling open a little, before turning and pointing at the tech in the back of the room. “Ash! Check the vitals at,” looks back at screen in front of her, “14.152… See if anything changed.”

 

Jaz turns back around and watches her brothers.  She hears the commotion behind her, several voices back and forth, Carolina disappears from next to her. The noise level rises, voices being raised in denial or elation she doesn’t really register which.  Jaz continues to watch, the slight twitches in their muscles continue, a spasm in Yancy’s face, or a jitter of Raleigh’s foot.  

 

She has been in this position before.  Memory flooding her. It's like every christmas as they were growing up, Raleigh was always a light sleeper, but Jaz would wake up even before him just this once every year.  

She’d sneak into their room, and once when she was about 9 or ten she paused.  Looking at her brothers sleep, noticing how they looked different slumbering.  Raleigh, who often would make faces at Jaz especially, looked far more calm than normal.  Yancy just looked peaceful, like sleeping was his form of zen, but then she remembered what she came to do;  wake them both.  “GET UP LAZY BONES!” her favorite tease for waking them.  Raleigh was always awake in a flash, then Jaz and Raleigh would jump on Yancy until he got up.  

As the uproar continues she spares a glance back at the noise.  Carolina has been sucked into their discussion now.  

“...ow is that even possible?”

“..they’ve been drifting…”

“...thats their normal pattern, here is …”

Jaz catching snippets of the present. As she tunes that out again, she glances into the simulator, and while everyone else is embroiled in whatever argument Jaz sees the door connecting to the sim room.  No one seems to be watching her, so she slowly walks towards the same door Carolina was ready to bust down earlier.  

But now she slips inside the simulator without another word, thankfully it doesn’t seem to trigger any alarms.  Jaz stands with the closed door to her back for a minute, taking in the quietness of this room versus the control room.  She exhales a long breathe, _stay calm, nothing wrong in observing closer_ . She chances to step closer to them, takes another look at the mirror that leads to the control room, then crouches down under it.  Crawling she places herself directly in the middle of the two rigs, Jaz sits down, her back against the wall.   _Ok Jaz, now what? You going to try and wake them or let sleeping brothers lie?_ She closes her eyes, tries to listen for the other people, as she does she’s surprised to hear nothing but breathing, synchronized even in their sleep. She exhales once more, opens her eyes.

She barely breathes out the words that she used to often “Get up Lazy bones.”

Nothing happens, she hugs her knees up to her chest, rests her head on them.  She sits there doing nothing more than breathing, her butt goes numb and still she sits there.  Finally admitting defeat to her body’s need to move from the same position she rolls up into a crouch, considers standing but instead murmurs louder than before “Get up, Lazy bones.”

She is rewarded with a response. Gasping, both Yancy and Raleigh, they are floundering like they just surfaced from holding their breath, not a reaction of someone waking from sleep.  They look a bit like fish, gasping, chests heaving, eyes blinking rapidly to regain a sense of order.  The door slams open, all the techs, the doctor and Carolina flood into the sim room.  

Jaz pops up from a crouch as they all descend on the boys.  Happy to not be called out for being inside the simulator Jaz helps the two techs get the mod rig off of Yancy, while Carolina, the doctor and the other tech do the same for Raleigh.  The techs are smart and quick and each supplies a small trash can for them, as the Becket boys sputter and gasp and expel the contents of their stomachs.   _So thankful i’m not a sympathy puker. Yeck_  

The group gets them out of the rig.  Allowing them a few moments together, Raleigh and Yancy wordlessly reaching out for the other.  A pang of jealously shoots through Jaz, she quickly squashes it down, _They mind meld for a living, do dangerous things all the time.  Just because they have a stronger connection because of it doesn’t mean I should hold it against them. Heck as far as I can tell_ **_that_ ** _is the only perk this job warrants them._  

 They get the boys back into their wheelchairs, rolling them back to med bay side by side.  

* * *

 

Less than an hour later Ilisapie and Zeke run into Jaz on her way out of the medbay.

Ilisapie catches her eye and waves her over, “oh hey Jaz, how’re you?”

“Hey, honestly hungry and tired.”

“Oh, bad day?”

“Not bad, just exhausting. Where you two going?”

Zeke steps up, “On our way to check in on your brothers.”

A quick eye roll, Jaz blurts out, “Let me save you the trip, they’re asleep.”

Zeke and Ilisapie both check their watches, they exchange a look of surprise. “So early?”

“They did a drift test. And,”

Ilisapie cuts her off, “Oh shit! That was today?! How’d that go?”

Huff, “Have you two eaten?”

Zeke shakes his head in response, Ilisapie's a bit confused at the change of subject.   
“Good, I can tell you all about it over food then.”

“Oh that kinda story. “ Ilisapie turns around to head to the mess, one last glance over her shoulder at the doors to med bay.  Zeke giver her a look, perfectly asking _What is it?,_ Ilisapie’s response a shake of her head, _nothing_.

 

* * *

 

Pentecost is starting to hate the media, as well as his superiors.  If one isn’t bugging him about the status of the Jaegers, it’s the other checking on the Rangers.  He wants to protect the rangers, but he’s tired of fielding questions from PR and the PPDC  or UN representatives.  

The active rangers are all under orders of silence until the Rangers in question have been deemed active or retired.  And honestly, Stacker's not sure if he wants them to be either right now, he’s played the diffuse and delay game with the media with Carolina’s help.  But there is no dodging the brass now that both Beckets are awake.  

He pinches the bridge of his nose, the phone message blinking on his desk.  The phone display telling him there are 3 new voicemail messages waiting for him.  He can assume that at least one of them is from Dr. Lightcap, pestering him about something with the Beckets as well.  He’s not sure he wants to check them.  Rubbing his hands over his face he decides a quick walk down to the labs. _A conversation with Caitlin would be more beneficial than, well anything else I’m trying to avoid_.

 

Its been two days since he went down to the labs. Caitlin rambling on, she’s onto some scheme that doing a scan of his brain might lead to answers.  What he’s not so sure of.  Help out the Beckets, help out the program, or just some kind of breakthrough in drift science and tech.   _I don’t care what it is really, as long as I’m doing something to get my  mind off the rest of it for the moment_ .  Straightening the files on his desk before leaving his office, Stacker pulls his jacket on, shrugging it into place. Buttoning it up he strides out into the corridor, he walks with purpose but not in a rushed manner.  He belatedly thinks _I should have phoned ahead, let her know I’m coming. Too late now._  

He arrives at the labs, to find the place mostly empty, two techs are pouring over their own monitors while Caitlin stands over them, tablet in hand.  He knocks on the open door frame.  None of them seem to notice, Stacker steps into the room, stands with his hands behind his back.  When he still receives no response he clears his throat, loudly.

 

That elicits a reaction, Caitlin pauses in her review of her tablet, looks up over the monitors and sees the Marshall.  “Stacker! Sir, so good to see you.” Both Techs hastily stand up and salute him, as she waves them to sit back down, “stop that, keep looking over those logs.” turning her attention back to Stacker she continues “you here as Marshall? Or is this a follow up as retired ranger?” She cocks her head at him, raising an eyebrow at how this will continue.

 

“Doctor, the latter, if you don’t mind.  My apologies for not giving you notice, but I found I had the time and could use a break from my own office.”

“Ah, in that case welcome Ranger.  Please let’s step into my office.” she winks at him then.

She ushers them into the next room over, a small office, cluttered with books, papers, and several monitors on the desk, all at odd angles and spaced out between the other clutter. She quickly grabs up the papers off of one chair, unceremoniously dumps them onto a corner of the desk.  “Please have a seat.” She smiles brightly at him, sticks her head out the door “Let me know if you find anything conclusive! Otherwise don’t disturb us, m’kay? Thanks.” There is a muttered response that she seems to acknowledge with a hand wave and then closes the door.  

“So what can I do you for Ranger?” She smiles again, this time with a mischievous tilt to the edge of her mouth.  She gestures for him to sit in the seat she just opened up, as she walks around behind the desk.

Stacker eyes the chair, and then looks back up at Caitlin’s face.  He gives a very deadpan look, as he continues to stand next to the chair.  He waits hoping she will acquiesce to his unspoken request.

Sigh, “Fine Stacks! You never were any fun to play with. Huff.” She sits down and turns two of the monitors on, quickly shuffles through some papers to find the wireless keyboard.  She pulls it out and lays it on top of the same papers it was just buried under.  Typing away she nods to herself, and then the screens.  “We have a unique opportunity to figure out how its possible for the human brain to take on the neural load of piloting a jaeger solo.” She pauses and looks at Stacker, he finally sits down, a meer nod to acknowledge he’s still listening. Looking back to the screen, “This is not an ideal study group,” she nods to the screen before muttering  “well most scientists wouldn’t consider two a study group at all.  But considering the alternative is sending people to an early grave I’ll take what I can to avoid doing just that.”

“I understand Caitlin” Stacker’s calm tone cutting into the Doctor’s rising tone of prattle.  He pulls the chair farther forward, he was there in the start of the program.  He knows what happened, and he wants her to know no one holds her responsible for Adam Casey, even if she still does. He reaches out over the desk and places his hand over hers, stilling her rapid movement over the keyboard.  She makes eye contact then, regaining some calm she exhales slowly through her nose. She squeezes his hand with her other hand, then releases it again, just as quickly.  He sits up straighter in the chair, returning his hands to his lap for the moment.

 

“Anyway, I compared your scans from early 2016 to the ones I took the other day.  I then compared your early scans with Raleigh’s previous scan.” inhale for breath, pause in her typing “Then finally I compared his most recent scan with yours.”

Impatience winning the day Stacker prompts her “and what did you find?”

 

She looks sheepishly at him. She turns one of the monitors around to show him what she’s been looking at.  “This is your scan on the right, I mean your left, and Raleigh’s on the right.”

 

Stacker quickly looks them over, but doesn’t really know what to look for.  There is a static image on top, then an 3D model of a human brain, slowly rotating below the image.  There are colors shot through both of them but no quickly distinguishable patterns. After a minute or so of him just looking at the screen Stacker finds Caitlin’s eyes over the monitor.

 

“Long story short, I’m not sure yet.” She bites her lower lip then continues, “The human brain is complicated, and a lot of things can happen all at once.  From just this data I haven’t, as of yet, been able to isolate if there is one thing that made you able to” she flails a hand in his direction to indicate something, “or even if whatever made you able to do it is the same function that made it possible more recently.”

 

Stacker sat back in his chair, musing this over.  He suddenly had the thought that _Caitlin seems to avoid mentioning solo piloting like it’s a Harry Potter villain_. He chuckled, but quickly covered it up with a clearing of his throat.  “Is there something more you need from me to help fill in the gaps?” He quickly recovered his composure to formulate a reasonable response.

 

“Hmm. I’m not sure yet. I have the techs going over the data with a new array of filters and some state of the art software.  See if there is something I missed, that is a clear indicator.  But so far the team and I haven’t come up with anything conclusive.  Although we are adding in the data we took from the Becket’s test drift to help compile full set of data.”

 

“Did you want to use some of the drift sim data from 2015 and early 2016?  If you need authorization to open those logs I can give you that clearance." _Being Marshall has its perks._

Looking a little awe struck Caitlin’s jaw drops a little. She snaps it closed again, “Yes sir! I mean, that would be really helpful… those files.”

“I’ll get them sent to you ASAP.  I’m happy to help your study in any way possible.” Stacker nods to reaffirm the statement. “Anything else I can do to help?”

“I don’t suppose you could get Ranger Servier to consider coming here for some scans and tests too?”

His good humor falls down, the feeling of a lead weight hitting his stomach, a cold feeling emanating up through him.  His voice, when he speaks next is all business, the lighthearted tone gone. “My power only extends so far Doctor. I can ask if she is willing to help. But you’re better off having a request sent to her local doctors for processing.”

Caitlin, must perceive the change in attitude, she too sits up straighter in her chair. “Thank you Marshall, for your help.” She quickly turns the screens around, closing the pages she previously opened. “Is there anything else I can do to help you Marshall?”

Breathing out slowly, he tries to put the horrible feeling out of his mind.  Attempting to regain the relaxed mood “Caitlin, I was wondering, how did the drift test go? More importantly do you have an assessment for the Beckets’ post combat status?”

“oh” she seems surprised by his turn of subject.  “um… In my professional opinion?” He nods, she continues “I would have to run a full set of cognitive tests before I would consider them combat ready.”

“I thought you said you did a drift test already?”

“I did, but they didn’t finish the test.”

“Why not? What happened?” He’s keen to know what is going on, if only so he can get one of the monkeys off his back.

“You didn’t pick up your phone messages at all?”

“No, not today.  Please tell me what happened?”

“They fell asleep.”

“What? During a drift test?”

“Yes, while still drifting. They didn’t disengage the drift until after waking up. Its very unusual… Like I said I’m compiling their data for more full results…”

“You have no final assessment of their capability to pilot without further tests?”

“well, if push comes to shove,” she leaves off, and he adds hastily.

“The UN and PPDC are shoving” he interjects.

“Well,” a hard tone comes to her voice, clearly mentioning the UN and PPDC set her on edge. “I will withhold judgement until a complete diagnostic test is completed.”

“Is that your formal response Caitlin?”

“Yes it is Marshall. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must try to get some understanding out of the data I Have collected.”

Stacker stands up, straightens his jacket as he buttons it.  With a partial bow to her he adds “Thank you Doctor, its been most enlightening.”

“Ah, my pleasure as always, Marshall.” she curtly nods her head to him, all the formalities setting stiffness between the two former comrades in arms.

Stacker takes his leave of her office, closing the door behind him, the techs so engrossed in their tasks that neither notices him, nor gets up as he leaves the labs.

 

* * *

 

Hours later finds Stacker back in his quarters, still sitting at his desk,  reading over more files.  An endless amount of reading always to be done.  Stacker hears a knock on his door. Surprised at the noise at this hour he gets up from his desk, peers at the peep hole. Pulling back, he quickly opens the door.

“hope I didn’t wake you Marshall.” Sergio greets his CO.

“Is this an official visit or personal?”

“It’s, personal we’ll say.” He holds up two beers in his one hand, waves them in an enticing manner. “I thought you might like to enjoy a beer with me. After I went through the trouble to get an english style brew.” Sergio smirks at Pentecost.  

Stacker gestures him into his quarters. Despite being the CO of a shatterdome the living accommodations aren’t much more roomy than standard living quarters.  He offers a comfortable chair to his old Ranger comrade. Stacker pulls his desk chair out from its usual space to sit adjacent the little table he uses to eat at some of the time.  

 

“What’s the occasion?” Stacker gestures to the two beers on the table now.

Sergio pulls a bottle opener out of his pocket and quickly pops the tops.  He offers one to Stacker, who takes it with a nod, they clink bottlenecks.  A quick swig of the contents has Stacker looking down at the label.  It is an english style brew, _how i’ve missed these_. He smiles just thinking about how he used to drink these with his sister… He stops the thought and looks back at Sergio. “how did you even get ahold of these?” He’s genuinely surprised.

 

Sergio takes a drag, before looking down at his own beers’ label.  “I may have cashed in a favor to get them.  It’s worth the cost for certain occasions.”

“what’s today's?”

 

Sergio looks at the table before looking back up at Stacker. “Cait told me about your visit today, to the labs.”  He twirls the beer bottle around on the table top.  Avoiding eye contact. “she’s worried about you...” Sergio looks up at Stacks again.

 

Raising his eyebrow at his friend Stacker swallows his mouthful of beer.  “She always liked to worry over everyone. Tsh” He looks away, “I’m fine, we just had a simple misunderstanding is all.”

 

“No!” he looks Stacker in the eye,  “You say that, but we know you better than that.  You’re under a lot of pressure because of this thing with the Beckets.  I know a beer isn’t going to fix it, but I just want you to know she,” he looks away momentarily then continues, “We aren’t trying to spite you. We just wants to look out for everyone’s best interests. And I would hate to hear you were driven into the ground over this.” Sergio starts picking at the label. He pauses to drink more of it.  “AH,” savoring the coolness and flavor.  “Besides, who else am I going to enjoy some evening brews with?” He smirks up at Stacker then, a bit of a mischievous look in his eye.

Stacker stares at him, mulling over what he said, then snorts. “Heh, guess you’ve got me there.” Stacker drinks another sip, letting the silence linger between them, not uncomfortable but companionable.  Rubbing his free hand over his face, Stacker murmurs “What am I going to do about those kids?”

“Why do anything?”

Stacker looks up at Sergio then, weariness seeping into his bones, tiredly he replies “They’re breathing down my neck for a status.”

“Stacks, they can’t jockey until they recover from the physical injuries.  Send Gipsy to Kodiak for repairs. When she gets out then you can worry about them. Not like they are ready to jump into any old rust bucket we can scrounge up.” Sergio wrinkles his nose up, making a very displeased look, “I’m not even superstitious and even I wouldn’t jump into any other Jaeger without due cause.”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of placing them somewhere else.  It’s more the worry that after that run…” uncertainty slips into Stackers tone despite trying to mask it.   _Should I be truly candid about this with Sergio? Why not? I trust him with my life, iIm certain the Beckets would too._ “After piloting solo, is it even wise to test them so soon after?”

 

“I’m not the fancy brain scientist, I just share headspace with one occasionally.”  Sergio waves his almost empty beer at Stacker.  “Don’t change the rules on them just because of” open waving gesture with his hands “stuff. Put them on the DL and when the rig is running then worry about this. Right now its not doing you any good to worry about it.” Placing his beer back down on the table Sergio exhales, “besides, is all this stress over them?  Or did Cait just dredge up some old memories?”

 

Taking the last swig of the beer Stacker states “I suppose you’re right... on some points.”   _I would say more, but I know Tamsin wouldn’t appreciate sharing, she’s rather private_.  Mulling over what to do next Stacker holds his empty bottle in both hands, rolling it back and forth between his hands.  

 

Sergio clears his throat.  Stacker looks up at him then.  “Maybe there is someone else you need to talk to.” Sergio finishes off his bottle, collects the caps from the table and stands up.  “I’ll leave you to it.” He walks back to the door, stops and turns, a smirk on the edge of his lips he remarks “you can always talk to me if you want.” Sergio waves to Stacker, lets himself out without another word.  Stacker stays sitting at the table a moment longer, still staring down at his bottle.   _I miss being a jaeger pilot, it was far simpler than being Marshall_ . Shaking it off, he gets up, _not much to be done for it though, the work won’t complete itself._ But first he pulls up his laptop, skype call to be made. He checks his watch, his heart rate picks up, anxiety and excitement welling up in his chest.  He pulls up his contacts and hits the call button.


	14. Mystery of the Invisible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raleigh has his surgery.  
> Jazmine leaves for school.  
> Yancy does an aweful lot of thinking. Tendo proves to be a bit of a puzzle piece in the Beckets' lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mystery of the Invisible by VERIDA
> 
> This chapter is a combination of some research, some experiences and a ton of artistic license (aka I imagined some of it in a particular way).  
> I wanted to have more fluff in this chapter but I wrote more angst, but there is some actual fluff coming in the next chapter or so.  
> There is light at the end of all this bad news, not lost in angst.  
> I had a whole different chapter planned but Tendo decided to butt into that plan.  
> I hope if anyone is still reading this that you'll comment on it, thanks!

**Mystery of the Invisible  
**

**March 20, 2020**

Tomorrow is the surgery and Yancy is wavering from calm to panic like a metronome.   _ What if something goes wrong? _ Yancy quickly squashes that idea.  _ No its a routine surgery and the PPDC employs only the best doctors and nurses. _  But then he feels the panic coil up in his gut again, unable to banish it with rational thought.  He thinks over a hundred ways to broach the subject with Raleigh, all sound wrong in his head.  Finally it's taken out of his hands.

“Yan, just stop thinking about it. Nothing you do or say is going to change the outcome of tomorrow. You're worrying is giving me a headache so quit it.” Without another peep, Raleigh settles down into his pillow and goes to sleep. Strangely enough it's like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders,  _ Raleigh is right, nothing I can do about it.  _

Jaz is not happy to leave. Yancy can tell just by looking at the face she is making, like there is something sour in her mouth. “Jazzy.  Don’t make a face, it might get stuck like that.” Yancy tries at lighthearted, not 100% convincing, but it helps.  She relaxes, leans over and hugs Yancy.

She whispers in his ear while holding onto the hug, “You be careful now. I don’t wanna rush back here because you two did something stupid… And look out for each other, m’kay?”

She pulls back to look him in the face, searching for something there.

Whispered Yancy replies, “Don’t worry Jaz. That is one thing I couldn’t stop doing even if I wanted to. Hard to ignore someone that is literally in your brain.” He taps his temple, snorts at the humorless joke. 

“Yeah, well, don’t forget to stay in touch with me this time. Or there will be hell to pay! I’ve even got new connections to have people here bug you if you even think about avoiding me.” She winks at him, a devious smirk rounding her lips, her eyes alight with mischief. 

Yancy puts his hands up in surrender. “Okay okay, you’ve got us. But the same goes for you, message us as soon as you’re back at school safe. Oh and say hi to Meme for us.” Yancy glances over at Raleigh, leaning on the edge of the bed, he’s remarkably relaxed looking. Yancy is surprised to see him look this nonchalant, he can feel the longing and nerves radiating out of him, mixed emotions over Jaz leaving and having surgery all in the same day. Yance tilts his head, a question without words,  _ how you holding up?  _

Raleigh doesn’t answer but gestures for Jaz to come over to him. Yancy can’t help but smile at his siblings, Raleigh will never admit it outloud, but having Jaz physically present has been really good for his nerves.  Yancy knows how much Rals loves their little sis, and it rivals Yancy’s love for his brother, if its possible to quantify such things as emotions.  hehe, he watches as Jazmine pauses infront of Raleigh, hands on her hips, another stern look on her face.  Raleigh doesn’t say anything but throws his arm wide, lifting his left arm as far as the sling and cast allow him, an invitation for a hug.  She stares at him a moment longer, then gives in to his request.

“The same goes for you, take care and keep in touch.” She states while hugging him, he keeps holding her, nodding his head slowly to acknowledge the statement.  They stay like that for a while. A companionable silence descending on the room, Yancy smiles at how far they have all come.  No more bickering, no more petty differences, years apart may have been a great medicine for them afterall.  

Raleigh releases his sister, adding “Don’t worry about us, we’ve got each other. But you take care of yourself out there.” He squeezes her arm with his good hand, a small smile forming on his lips.

“Oh don’t you worry. You should worry if you even try to avoid me again!” She poke Raleigh in the chest with one finger, “I’m told your nurses and fellow Rangers can be, hmmmm, persuasive? Mwahaha,” she makes the devious look again. Yancy rolls his eyes at this.

“Get going, or you’ll miss your flight. PPDC has been kind enough to take you to the airport, but don’t think they have all the time in the world for you! Now get!” Yancy wheels closer to his siblings, giving Jaz a gentle shove towards the door. 

She finally takes the few steps towards the door, pausing she turns to wave and is out the door. Yancy’s pang of loss is mirrored in his brother, maybe felt even a little more keenly.  Yancy squeezes Rals wrist, a half hearted smile, “I know kid. I’m gonna miss her too.”

Raleigh just exhales, sits down on the bed edge, his semblance of normalcy fading. Raleigh’s worry, longing and anxiety saping the energy and liveliness from his features. No reason to keep up the facade when the only person in the room knows what you’re feeling.  Raleigh leans back on the bed, throws his right arm over his eyes with a huff. “what time is this thing again?”

Yancy knows what “thing” he means, “The nurses will probably come to prep you in another hour or so. Why? something you wanted to do before then?”

“no, just wondering how much longer.” 

They stay that way, Yancy sitting next to the bed, and Raleigh taking long calming breaths lying on the bed.  Yancy wonders when next they will get this much quiet.  

**~Later the same day~  
**

Raleigh is returned to the room, Kaida advises Yancy to let Rals rest a while.  Later the doctors come back, Raleigh is woken up by them.  He seems groggy and out of it, which Yancy thinks is strange, but doesn’t have time to dwell on it.  They load Rals into a wheelchair, and take him away for some additional tests. Yancy starts to get this nagging feeling that something is off.  He dismisses it, as a superstitious feeling,  _ besides I’d be groggy if I was just out of surgery, right? _

The doctors and nurse entourage returns with Rals a while later.  The doctors’ faces don’t look as Yancy imagined them to be.  They aren’t upset, but more neutral, a look Yancy equates to the times when his mother was in the hospital.  He sets his jaw, assuming this is bad news, or at least not good news they come with.  

The doctors speak, and slowly the news sinks in.  Yancy feels a numbness in his gut, that spreads throughout his body.   _ This can’t be happening. They survived Kaiju, Raleigh took the bastard down, so how is it that now the doctors are saying such things. How could this happen to Raleigh? _

Yancy suddenly shakes the numbness off, and looks at Raleigh, really observes him.  He looks completely neutral as well, a mirror of the doctors expressions.  Yancy thinks it’s odd, but then he digs deeper, notices the white knuckles and tense muscles, notes the minor tick in his jaw, the sign of his muscles being held in control.  

Yancy’s hands feel clammy,  _ this can’t be happening _ , playing over and over drowning out the additional information the doctors are trying to pour into his ears.  Yancy feels around inside himself for the drift connection, finding the only sensation from Raleigh is doubt.  It's even more numbing to feel it on Rals end, Yancy shivers involuntarily.  Breaking the silence around him, and the doctors words making sense again. Yancy tries to focus on that.

Eventually they leave, leaving Raleigh and Yancy alone, swimming in their own thoughts.  They sit, Raleigh seems unwilling or unable to voice anything.  Yancy can’t think of anything to say, since Raleigh can feel his fluctuating emotions.  The silence stretches on, to the point where to speak would be to break the small piece of serenity they found solace in.  Yancy stops trying to think of what to say, and starts to wonder what they will do next.  Time slides by. 

Without much note the rest of the day slides by, briefly interrupted by nurses checking in, or bringing food.  Neither of them is really hungry, but know better than to ignore it completely.  They start to function on a basis of routine motions and actions; eating and sleeping factored into that.  They day passes by, the next day bringing much of the same. 

It is interrupted by Priyasha coming in and taking Raleigh to physical therapy.

While he is gone Yancy is surprised to get a visit from Tendo. The LOCCENT chief looks a little better than last Yancy remembers, he’d been really brief in his visits.  

“Hey.” Tendo walks in tentatively, looking around the room,  “No Raleigh?”

Yancy  shakes his head, “Nah, he’s at PT with Yasha. You’re welcome to stick around. If you want?” Yancy gestures his chin up. The look catches Tendo’s eye, watching Yancy for a moment longer.

“ah” Tendo breathes, looking around the room, his eyes catching on something. “Mind if I load up some new music and movies for you guys?” Tendo points to the tablet sitting on the bedside table. 

Yancy nods “help yourself.” Then he zones out again, almost forgets anyone is there until Tendo clears his throat. 

Yancy looks up at him, holding a magazine out to Yancy. “You follow the latest in tech, too?” Tendo is looking at the magazine he is offering, not making eye contact. 

“uh, yea,” he reaches out and takes the offered magazine.  “Thanks.” He starts to flip through its pages as they lapse back into silence. 

Tendo grabs Yancy’s tablet from the table next to him and pops the flash drive into it. “I got some other reading material for you.  I came across a couple of radio shows Rals might like listening to,” taps a couple things on the screen, “He’s still into old time stuff right? Sherlock crap and silly old world war propoganda stuff,” makes a circular vague gesture with his hand, then places the tablet back down. 

Yancy stiffens up some, thinking of Raleigh and wondering how any of it will be received. 

Tendo puts his hands up, a double stopping motion, “Woah, nevermind, don’t worry about it. He can leave or take it. No biggie.” Tendo sits down on the edge of the chair, looks around the room quickly, clears his throat. “uh, so when d’ya get to leave this place? or you stuck indefinitely?”

Yancy is pulled out of himself by the question. “Huh? oh ah, not really sure.” He drops the magazine into his lap, looks up at Tendo. Yan’s brain actually waking up to what was asked. “I think another week,” looking down to the floor Yancy’s spirits drop again.  _ What is it going to be like to live in the small space with his brother now? Is it going to be too cramped? Is Raleigh going to need a vision cane? Nah, more likely to need sleeping pills or antidepressants, if I’m being honest with myself.  Ugh. _

“Hey that’s great news! You still have PT though right? So visits down here is better than being stuck here…” Tendo trails off, Yancy doesn’t really have any response.  He looks around for a moment.  “Oh hey did you hear the buzz the other day?”

Yancy pauses, should be polite and not shrug him off.  He glances at Tendo again, wonders why he seems nervous. Ignoring that he goes back to the question “what’s that?” deadpan response.

“Remember Allison?” Tendo waits, Yancy nods dully, “well turns out she dumped her former beau in a spectacular fashion! She decked the guy right on the jaeger bay floor! All the techs were up in arms about it.” Tendo makes some vague gestures with his hands then leans forward towards Yancy, drops his voice, “Some say its because he was talking trash, but I think its because she was done with his crap.” Tendo waggles his eyebrows a little, “she’s available again it seems.” 

Yancy perks up a little at the thought. She is quite the impressive lady, petite stature but big in personality, and in guts. Then he remembers the day before knifehead, and a pre drop convo on the coms.

“Wait the same girl you took out before…?” Yancy still can’t bring himself to say it outloud yet.

Tendo nods, then leans back and shrugs. “but not sure what the story is. I think she’s got her eyes on someone else” he shrugs, a small frown crossing his face.  “I’m gonna try and message her again, get to the bottom of this rumor one way or another.” The smirk is back on Tendo’s face.  

He gets up from his chair, puts his hand on Yancy’s shoulder and squeezes it a little. Yancy makes no move to stop him, Yancy soaks up the warmth from the Loccent Cheifs hand like a lifeline.  He makes no other motion though, Yancy breifly closes his eyes, focusing on the sensation of another human being.  Tendo doesn’t linger there long before heading out again.  

Yancy is left to ponder this by himself.  Short time later Priyasha returns with Raleigh. Yancy quickly shows him what Tendo left for them.  Then he is off to his own PT session. 

Yancy is thankful Priyasa doesn’t push either of them to speak any more than needed.  She quirks an eyebrow at Yancy when he chooses the shortest answer to her questions, but doesn’t remark on it. 

The rest of his session passes with yes or no questions only.  His mind preoccupied with the thoughts of what Tendo told him.

* * *

 

**MARCH 22, 2020**

Near the end of the second day, their silent monotony is broken by the doctors return.  Dr Emmer and Volakis are there along with another guy neither Becket knows.  They are saying Raleigh’s condition is a fine balance, on one hand its not damage in his eyes, but that means it’s in his brain. The doctors are hesitant to say that it can be changed or not. 

As best they can diagnose Raleigh has severe achromatopsia.  They say that there are some experimental procedures that they could look into, but none are guaranteed to fix it.  It’s possible the process could affect his ability to drift.  They can’t be sure, the whole drift science is so new, it’s uncertain.

That was the first time since the surgery Raleigh was sure and clear about his intentions.  

Yancy feels anger bloom hot and fast from Raleigh, breaking through the numb aloof sensation of before, “No,” Rals states, he shakes his head a little, “no.” softer, but still certain.

Yancy is surprised by Raleigh’s quick response. Involuntarily he questions it, “really? Don’t you want to consider it at all, there’s more than one option.”

Sitting up straighter in the chair, looking more like his robust self than he has since Jaz left, “No way Yancy.” He makes a hand gesture to his head, “I can’t risk what I have left. It’s too slippery a slope to venture down. I won’t do it.” He crosses his right arm over his chest, as a gesture of finality.

Yancy opens his mouth to protest when the anger flares up again. It seethes in the back of his mind. Yancy snaps his mouth shut, looks from the doctors to his brother, staring at him with a crease in his brow.  Anger etched into his features, Yancy gets it now.  _ It's not my call, it's Raleigh’s life _ , and even if we are drift partners Rals has the final say in his life. Drift compatible but still two different people Yancy is reminded.

 

Not long after the doctors leave Carolina stops by their room.  She has a tablet in hand, waving it around like a flag she calls out, “Boys! You have a call from one lovely Jazmine!” She sing songs it, Yancy awakens some from the numb stupor he lapsed into, realizing Jazmine should be back in France by now. 

“Ah, yes.” He begins to roust from his self imposed silence.  

Carolina gives them both a worried look, but passes the tablet to Yancy when he holds his hand out.  She looks between the two brothers, “I’ll give you some privacy then.” She releases the tablet into Yancy’s hands and slowly backs out of the room.  

“Thanks Abuela” Yancy gives a half hearted wave, as he quickly turns his attention to the tablet screen. 

“Yancy! Rals! Why didn’t you call me?!” A voice bright and chipper comes through, slightly tinny sounding from the small speaker in the device.

“We had,” cough clearing of his throat, “uh, weren’t you supposed to call us anyway? We didn’t know when you got back. No problems in your travels i assume?”

Yancy wheels up next to Raleigh’s chair. However Rals seems even slower to respond to outside stimuli than Yancy was. This worries Yancy even more, his brow creases just slightly from the feeling.  

Jaz, sharp as ever picks it up instantly. “What’s up? What happened? Yancy?”

Raleigh breaks her off of the 20 questions routine, “Oh hey Jaz. Sorry, how was that trip? Back at school now?”

Yancy relaxes at the sound of Raleigh’s voice, he’s not lost it, so there is hope then.  Yancy’s features must reflect this when Jaz allows the conversation to be redirected.  They quietly banter back and forth about nothing, Jaz telling them about her school, her roommate, Valerie Laurent drops into the frame says hello. Jaz introduces them to Val and then due to time difference she has to end the conversation, only after they promise to talk again in a couple of days.  

Jaz looks at them one more time, “is there something you wanted to tell me?” She raises an eyebrow, thinking something suspicious is up, but not wanted to be too forward.  

Yancy glances over to Raleigh, who just looks away from the tablet, a brief flash of hurt look crosses his face. 

“Nah, just tired from PT today. Maybe we’ll talk more next time. M’kay?” Yancy forces a partial smile, pokes Raleigh below the screen, he gets a similarly fake smile from Rals for it.  

Jaz is watching both of them, scrutinizing their facial expressions.  She looks like she is going to say something, but seems to understand the current need to move on.  

“Right, well you boys take care now! Give me a call soon.”

“sure thing Jaz.” Yancy replies, Raleigh just nods to agree with it. 

The smile slips off both of their faces as soon as the conversation ends, no longer anyone to fool or impress.  Yancy puts the tablet aside, as Raleigh gets up and gets into bed again.  Yancy watches, but says nothing. What is there to say when you know the crushing despair another person is feeling? Yancy knows, the doubt that swirls in his brother’s mind is the same as his own.   _ What are we going to do now? _

* * *

 

Ilisapie and Zeke sit down for lunch, joining Kaida and Priyasha’s table.  They are all very hungry so there is nothing but the sounds of chewing and forks scraping trays for a few minutes.  After satiating some of the need they start to look up at each other, Kaida looks around the mess before speaking in a soft voices.  “Have either of you seen the Beckets recently?”

“I haven’t been down to medical since Jazmine left, why?” Ilisapie states nonchalantly.

Zeke turns to her, his face twisted in a look of annoyance.  “Really?”

“What? She only left two days ago! Not like you’ve had time to go down there either, so don’t give me that look!” 

Zeke rolls his eyes, “What’s up?” Zeke turns his attention to the nurses.  

In a hushed tone Kaida adds “You should see them for yourselves.”

Kaida looks around the room one more time before glancing at Priyasha. She nods slightly, then Kaida continues to whisper “You know Rals had surgery the same day Jaz left right?”  

Ilisapie shakes her head, Zeke does the same slower, adding “I remember hearing something when it was scheduled, but lost track of it. How’d it go?” 

“Well,” Kaida looks to Priyasha, who shakes her head again. “Maybe you should visit them. Yancy would be glad for the distraction.”

“Why? Did something go wrong?!” Ilisapie is quick to get agitated.

“Shhh, Calm down. It didn’t go wrong, per say…” Priyasha trails off, leaving more questions than answers. She looks rather tired, like her work is taking more of a toll on her than usual. Ilisapie raises an eyebrow, about ready to ask what is bothering the older woman so much. 

“Just go visit them. It’s not really out place to say, but...” Kaida adds. She shovels the last bite of food into her mouth. She checks her watch then picks up the tray, standing up from the table.  

“Yeah, make some time for them, please.” Priyasha adds quietly before getting up as well.  Leaving Ilisapie and Zeke to wonder, _ why the half statements? What’s the big secret? Why were they whispering? _

The Rangers look between each other, then Ilisapie pulls up her cell, double checking the time and their current schedule in one place.  She glances over it “How about we stop by after evening drills?”

Zeke nodds as he finishes off his meal, “umm” to confirm it.  

Ilisapie types it into the schedule with a big “?” next to it.  _ What new surprise awaits us? Whats going on? _ She scrolls through the PPDC Anchorage news app, nothing jumping out at her, some reassignments, some tech announcements, and a big blank under news from the Marshall.  _ Hmm, guess it’s not public news then _ ...

* * *

 

Tendo visits a couple of days later.

He walks in quietly, looking around the room, before entering entirely.  Yancy looks up to catch Tendo’s eye. Yancy waves Tendo in, Raleigh stirs, pulls his earphones off, putting his tablet aside.  Raleigh smiles wanly but says nothing. 

Tendo takes the initiative, “How are my favorite brothers doin?”

Yancy raises an eyebrow at the question,  _ that’s a rather dumb thing to say to two med bay bound rangers _ .  Instead opting for sarcasm, “Oh you know, getting ready for a polo match later good chap! And yesterday was just ducky weather don’t you say?”

“Yance, don’t be a jerk.” Raleigh gazes over at him before returning his attention to Tendo. “Hey Tendo. How’s it going with you?” 

“Oh you know, beating the ladies off with a stick, running the place with one hand tied behind my back, and finding time to bother you two.” He shrugs, “All in a day’s work.” He chuckles at his own bad idea of a joke. 

Even though Yancy is still on edge since hearing the doctors’ verdict on Raleigh’s condition.  Raleigh doesn’t seem to harbor the same unease with Tendo here.   _ Maybe this is the distraction that we needed. _  Yancy goes back to his reading, leaves Raleigh and Tendo to talk about whatever.  Yancy glances up every so often to observe Raleigh’s interactions.  Tendo is totally at ease, not tense or anxious like some of their other visitors, he’s not treating Rals like he’s made of glass.  Maybe that is why Yancy can feel the tension ebbing out of Raleigh, and in turn himself.  

Yancy happily loses focus on their conversation, relaxing into his own reading fully. His attention drawn back at the sound of Raleigh Laughing, really laughing, the sound of it cuts through his reading. 

When they both finally wind down laughing, Tendo reaches into his back pocket, “Oh right before I forget, here is some new music and some podcasts for you to listen to.” He offers the tiny drive to Raleigh, who doesn’t take it but grabs his tablet, and offers it to Tendo.

“Here just load it up, and take the disc back. No sense in me holding onto it.”

“Sure.” Tendo takes it and inserts the disc, taps a few things and no time later it removing the disc.  “Oh and let me know if you need or want anything else. I know it can get pretty boring stuck in here all the time.” 

 

Raleigh has a moment of thought, then he gestures Tendo closer. The LOCCENT chief leans in, and Raleigh whispers something to him. A look of surprise crosses his face, and Yancy wonders why he glances towards himself.  He ignores it, as he feels a spike of happiness vibrate from nowhere, no wait that's Rals from the drift. Yan is so surprised by it, that he forgets about whatever he was doing or thinking a moment before.  He is about to ask Rals what is up, where the feeling came from, when Kaida enters.

“sorry boys, party time is over.” Tendo turns around at the sound.

“oh come on, just 5 more minutes?” Tendo whines, using a high nasally voice.

“Tch tch, you know the rules MR. Choi.” Kaida waggles her finger at him, her other hand on her hip, a cute smile playing on her lips. Raleigh mirrors it.  

“Argh, is it my turn again?” Raleigh asks her.

“You know it big boy! Come on, Yashas waiting for us. Sorry Tendo.” she states, with genuine regret in her voice this time.  

Yancy wants to let whatever is going on that brought Raleigh out of his funk to continue. He quickly speaks up “Oh come on Kaida~a~,” sing songing her name, “Let the boys play. How about I take first session instead?”

She looks him over, and bites her lower lip a bit while looking from one to the other, debating it for a moment. “Only if Raleigh is okay with it too.”

Yancy looks to his brother, “well?”

Raleigh shrugs then nods, “yeah, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, I only offered because I hate going. hah” Raleigh throws a pillow at him, which he catches easily. “I’ll take that as a Yes then.” Placing his reading aside he gingerly gets up to get into the wheelchair Kaida has provided.  “Tally Ho and sally forth good lady!”

“What do you take me for? A faithful steed?” But there is no malice in it, as she smirks at the comment. Then they’re off, Raleigh and Tendo left to themselves for a bit.  Yancy thinks,  _ worth all the aches and pains of PT if Rals can relax some _ . 

* * *

 

Tendo stops by again the next morning.  Tendo waltzes in, a bag of goodies in hand.

“Good Morning Becket Boys!”

Raleigh and Yancy’s attention snaps to their visitor. “Hey!” they say in unison.

“Hey to you two, don’t start doing that,” waves his free hand at his temple then towards them, “drifty thing on me.” 

Yancy chuckle at the dismayed look crossing Tendo’s features. Raleigh brings his right hand up to his temple, makes a look of concentration, then points at Yancy. “I know what you’re thinking!”

Tendo yelps a little, “That’s it I’m out!”

Now its Raleigh’s turn to protest, “No Tendo! I’m just kidding. Don’t go!” He sounds so much more like his usual self that Yancy smiles at the exchange. 

The three of them banter some before Raleigh has to excuse himself inexplicably for a moment, and steps out of the room. Tendo and Yancy sit in silence for a moment before Tendo exclaims, “Oh right! before I forget!” He reaches down into his paper bag he brought and pulls out a small stack of comic books, hands them to Raleigh.

Yancy looks at what he is being handed and stops half way to accepting the offer. “what?!” as he regains himself and grasps the stack from Tendo’s outstretched hand. 

“Oh do you not read comics anymore?” Tendo actually _looks surprised? No upset?_

Yancy recomposes himself as he shuffles through the stack he was just handed. “How did you..?”

Tendo shrugs, all upset gone. A smile lights his face up, and he shrugs. “I have connections in all the right places…”

Yancy cuts in, “no, I know you have connections all over.” he waves his hand laterally to dismiss that notion. “How’d you know what I’d want to read?” Simply amazed at Tendo’s ability to get ahold of anything, from anywhere. He knew Rals and Tendo were buddies, but to extend such courtesies to Yancy is always a small wonder. 

Tendo shrugs again, touches his finger to the side of his nose, “Heh, not tellin’. Oh! And if you like those I might be able to get ahold of a couple more.” He smirks, crossing his arms over his chest, leaning back against the wall.  Self assuredness radiating off him. Yancy can’t help but smile as he reverently pages through the comics.  

Tendo’s posture relaxes and he takes the seat across from Yancy.  Tendo starts speaking, but Yancy is engrossed in the comics and only catches the end of it, “... drift goes both ways. So stop being such a debbie downer.” 

Brought out of his wonder, Yancy blinks at Tendo, who’s watching the floor. “What was that?” Yancy whispers.  

“Huh?” Tendo looks up at Yancy, a far away look in his eyes. He blinks, and is looking at Yancy for real. “Be a little more optimistic, if not for yourself, then for Rals’. Think you can manage that? Big Bro?”

Yancy is stunned into silence. He considers what he just said, and has no response, but drops both hands into his lap, comic book pages still between his fingers.  He starts to think about how he’s feeling, and how his brother feels.  He really considers one separately from the other. He doesn’t know how long he tries to dissect the emotions and thoughts, but soon Tendo is standing up. Raleigh returns from his excursion, Jello cups on a tray.

“Check out what I got a hold of!”

Tendo smiles again, not the same smile of a couple of minutes ago, but still genuine enough.  _ There is more than meets the eye here. Best keep an eye on our Loccent Chief, he could be trouble _ . Tendo’s voice breaks through Yancy’s thoughts, “Alright!” 

 

After sharing a few more laughs and jello Tendo bids his goodbyes.

“I’ll catch you again soon. Oh and Yancy,” he pauses as Yancy gives him his attention, remember what I said, m’kay?”

Yancy nods, manages a wave as Tendo leaves the room. 

Raleigh seems curious, but he doesn’t voice anything.  Yancy lets it drop as he tries to separate out his thoughts from his brothers thoughts in the past few days.   _ I’ll try _ , his unspoken response to their friends request. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> incase anyone is curious: Achromatopsia symptoms includes photophobia (light sensitivity), color blindness, nearsightedness, limited visual acuity (blurriness)  
> AKA someone with this can see, but not see well.


	15. Deep Inside of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are rumors flying around about the status of Gypsy Danger. Pentecost gets a visit to confirm or deny these accusations.  
> Raleigh and Yancy finally get to leave Medical, is that the end of their worries? New problems arise between the brothers as they find their way after Knifehead. Gypsy Danger's status still hangs in the balance. What will the boys do until then?  
> The other rangers make an appearance and the Beckets' sister is keeping an eye on them, remotely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anyone and everyone still following or reading this.  
> I had to distance myself from this chapter for a long time to get a better handle on it. I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but that is probably true of many writers. I had a beta reader, and I was hoping to get a third opinion, but that fell through. So here we are with what I can up with, and as best I can figure we'll move on from here.  
> I have several other chapters after this one, but for whatever reason this was the sticking point. 
> 
> WARNING: More Made up Science Ahead. This is how I think the Drift might work, along with fake treatments for current medical conditions. Sorry for not strictly adhering to reality but my imagination has to get a chance in here somewhere. 
> 
> With much delay, I hope you enjoy and please comment or review after reading. Thanks.

**CHAPTER 15**

**MARCH 25, 2020**

 

Stacker works away at his computer—

From the anteroom, Thomas, his assistant worries, “Representative Olivares, you can’t go in there!”

The door bangs open, Carolina storming into his office with murder in her eyes, his assistant fluttering in her wake.

Stacker says calmly, “Thank you, Thomas.  Would you give Representative Olivares and I a moment, please?”

Thomas snaps a bow, scurries from the room, and closes the door.

Stacker folds his hands on his desk. “How may I help you, Carolina?”

“Don’t Carolina me! Just what is the meaning of this, Marshal?” anger dripping from her tone.

“Rep Olivares, at any given moment there are a hundred different matters which can bring you to my office.”

“Don’t you sit there and play dumb! The order could have only come from you--of all the low heartless things to do!” Slams a crumpled page to the desk. “Dishonorable discharge? Dishonorable?!” Crosses her arms. “In case you’ve forgotten, Marshal, with your ‘hundred different matters’, they’re still in Medical, _sir_.” Sneers, “I expected better of you.”

Stacker offers the chairs opposite. “Have a seat, Representative.”

“I’ll stand.”

“Very well.” Steeples his fingers. “I assume this is about the Beckets’ future.”

“Which is apparently going to be very short with the Defense Corps.”

“Is this—“ Indicates the note.

Carolina nods.

Stacker brings it closer, smooths it out. He notes its an email, from outside the PPDC.

_‘_ _PR Olivares-_

_Please confirm the statement:_

_Rangers Becket to be discharged? Honors or not?_

_\- Alaskan Post News’_

“This,” gesture to the note, “Rep Olivares, is a rumor.”

Carolina huffs.

“Would you be so kind as to explain?” Stacker remains calm.

She sits. “We’re hearing around the ‘Dome that the Beckets are being discharged and all of Danger’s crew reassigned.” She leans back, crosses her arms, challenges him to say different, so he does:

“No one will be discharged, and no one is being reassigned.”

“Really? Repairs will take months.  Sure the mechanics are busy, but the rest of them? Sitting idly by?”

“If I had that luxury,” says Stacker. “Unfortunately, I don’t.”

Carolina’s eyes burn into him.

“As such, some of the crew may transfer or take up temporary positions if they so desire.” Carolina exhales, slumps in her seat.

“I was going to issue a report tomorrow, but this,” pushes the crumpled note back over his desk, ‘beat me to it.”

Carolina gives him a look. “Marshal, sir, you should have issued a report as soon as you had a damage assessment.”

  
  


* * *

**Anchorage Shatterdome**

**March 27, 2020**

 

Stacker has thought about what to do with the Beckets. Lightcap has approached him with a grant to help fund the Academy, but it required not only Raleigh’s consent but his as well.  Stacker wasn’t sure he could take the down time to play guinea pig, let alone getting his head shrunk, _again._  

 

Stacker focuses on the tech reports, stating Gipsy Danger would take upwards of 6 months to repair, longer if they upgrade her in the process. He could easily find other things for Gipsy Danger’s staff to do while the Jaeger is being repaired. Knowing that staff don’t just show up on his door everyday, Stacker has made a habit of finding people to fill positions, sometimes, teaching them how to help out in more roles.  

 

Stacker sighed reading over the latest report from the academy.  The current staff were all great people doing amazing things, but there was always need for more.  Lightcap could always find a place for more analysts and scientific minds.   He thought about what would be the best utilization of Gipsy’s right hemisphere.  Stacker made a decision.

 

Pentecost calls his assistant.

“Afternoon, sir.”

“Good afternoon Thomas. I would like to speak to Yancy Becket today. Please check his schedule.”

“Hold on sir, checking.” Clicking, tap tap.

“Sir, Medical has an open period in his schedule this afternoon.  Would you like me to contact General Iroh to reschedule your teleconference?”

“What time is that?”

“Three O’clock sir.”

“Yes, please contact Medical to reserve Ranger Becket’s time today.  See if General Iroh can conference later today or move him to tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.”

“Thank you Thomas. Oh, check to see if Ranger Raleigh Becket will be occupied at the time. I’d like a private conversation with Yancy. Let me know if there is a conflict.”

“Hold on Sir.” pause, “It looks like he will be alone for an hour. Will you need to speak with Ranger Becket longer than that sir?”

“No that should be fine.”

“Alright, its cleared with medical staff.  Anything else sir?”

“No, that is all for now. Thank You Thomas.”

“Yes sir.”

Pentecost disconnects, turns to his computer to pull up the documents he’ll need for his meeting with Yancy Becket.  

  


Stacker grabs the collection of folders he’d been looking through and heads out the door.  

“Page me if any emergencies arise, otherwise I’ll be back within the hour, Thomas.”

“Alright sir. Best of luck.”

Stacker makes no comment but nods, and strides off down the hall.

 

Knock, “Hello Ranger.”

“Sir,” Yancy sits up and throws a quick salute.

“At ease Ranger.”

Yancy drops the salute but his posture doesn’t relax.

Stacker settles himself in a chair, clears his throat. “I’m sure you’re curious why I’ve come down here.”

 

A curt nod in response.

Stacker continues on, “I have a proposition for you Ranger.” Choosing his words carefully, he watches the younger man’s reaction.  “I want to offer you a temporary position as the Pre Drift Instructor, acting as a judge at the 2020B and C class final examinations.”

Yancy’s face a neutral expression. Stacker waits, holding the folders, he taps them.  

“May I ask a question sir?” Yancy looks confused.

An open wave gesture to emphasize his words, “Please, Permission to speak freely.”

Becket pauses, “Will my brother and I be transferred to Kodiak?”

“Yes, it is a full time assignment until your Jaeger is deemed ready for service.”

“Is Raleigh being offered a similar position?” Yancy quirks an eyebrow.

“Your brother is being offered another role within the academy.”

“And will we receive all the same benefits we currently have?”

“Yes. You both remain Rangers so all your privileges are the same. Any other questions?” Stacker keeping his tone level, _poker face remains in place, give nothing away._

“Yes,” Becket makes direct eye contact, “Do I have time to consider the offer before responding?”

“I will give you some time, but I’ll need an answer before the next semester of cadets start.  You’re welcome to read over this outline of responsibilities and duties.” Stacker hands one of the folders he brought with him over to Yancy. “Consider this a great opportunity Ranger. Several of your other contemporaries have served in similar roles and have benefited from the experience. I would hope you might gain the same.”

 

Stacker stands up, “If you have any other questions feel free to contact myself or HR.”

Yancy nods but is already reading through the folder.  

Stacker watches him, and when he realizes Yancy’s attention is divided he sees himself out.

_Well I hope Lightcap gets a more enthusiastic response from the younger brother then I got from the elder.  If Raleigh is to agree, I will have to make room on my schedule for the reciprocal part. Ugh_ , Stacker walks briskly back to his office.  

Stacker hates to be unprepared.  He returns to his office, starts typing to one of the few people he can trust for the position.  A person that won’t screw over Stacker’s work at the Shatterdome and Academy.   

* * *

 

**Anchorage Shatterdome**

**Medical bay- Beckets’ room**

**March 28, 2020**

  


Over a fortnight since their last drift test and the drift techs are still pouring over their data.  Not sure what caused the narcoleptic fit (as they jokingly call it).  They are denied another chance until the mystery is solved or someone can pinpoint the cause.  The team afraid it may cause permanent damage.  Yancy and Raleigh’s drift connection has faded back to normal.  Their head-space once again only filled with their own thoughts.  Yancy misses the innate connection, to know without a doubt how his brother was feeling.  

 

Yancy swears he would give almost anything to share head-space with Rals the day the optometry staff come to their room to fit Raleigh for a pair of tinted lenses.

Yancy looks over, as the nurse and doctor fuss over Raleigh.

Raleigh tries on several options they have brought for him.  He scrunches his face up after placing them on the bridge of his nose.  They poke and prod at the arms, or the ends and the way they sit on his ears.   Raleigh continues to look displeased by all the options. 

Yancy watches them without interrupting for a good 20 minutes before he decides to interject on everyone's best interests. “Do you have contacts?”

“Huh?” the nurse looks up from where she is adjusting the latest pair.

“Contacts, you know the kind of lenses that sit directly on your eye?” he points at his own eyes, now he’s being a bit of a smart ass. The smile on Raleigh’s face is worth it. Yancy rolls his eyes at the doctor and nurse. _Let me just speed this process up._ “I’d say a set of contacts and we can all avoid the headaches of this knuckle head breaking glasses repeatedly. That and he’ll have greater mobility that way, win win.”

Raleigh is nodding, smile gracing his face, grinning at Yan then nods. “Yeah! Let's try that!”

 

A few days later the ophthalmology team is back.  Raleigh gets a small package and the nurse tries to show him how to put them in and he just waves her off, goes into the bathroom and battles it out one handed.

Yancy does a bit of a double take when Raleigh comes back out.  Rals eyes, naturally a grey blue to light blue are dark, almost black in comparison. Yet at the same time Yancy realizes he’s not squinting or blinking constantly, which is what he’s been doing.  

“How’s that feel?” the nurse asks, as Raleigh spins around and looks up down and around.

“This is an improvement.” Raleigh seems pleased with the mobility at least.

“These have similar instructions as normal contacts. Don’t sleep in them…” the nurse lists off all the proper care items. Before she hands him a small box of them, along with a glasses case.

“What are these for?” Raleigh asks after opening the case.

“Those are for when you can’t wear the contacts” She goes on to tell him more details about how to care for those too. “We supplied you with the sports frame you tried the other day, assuming that would be the best fit for your, uh, lifestyle.” She nods when Yancy gives her an approving glance.

 

Raleigh opens his mouth, but Yancy clears his throat before his brother says anything. Raleigh looks over to Yancy, he snaps his mouth shut, then puts the glasses case down in the box with the other supplies. He spares a false smile to the group, and a wink to Yancy.

* * *

 

**Anchorage Shatterdome**

**Medical bay- Beckets’ room**

**April 2, 2020**

 

Caitlin asks to meet with Raleigh, she goes to the Beckets location in Medical.  She wants to talk to him alone first. No sense in asking Yancy unless Raleigh agrees.  

She has the grant outline form in her hand, reviews it once more before dropping it on her desk. Grabs up her tablet and heads up to Medical.  She’s more nervous about meeting with the Ranger than with Stacker or any of her C.O.s.

This is just a visit to another Ranger, _one of the younger ones_ , her mind supplies. _He’s an adult and can make his own choices. But does that make me feel any less guilty for exploiting his ability?_ _Not exploiting him, just trying to help the program and save the planet from interdimensional sea monsters is all._

She nods to herself, stronger in her conviction. This research can help out the world by figuring out what makes drift compatibility, and what makes one able to drift? She strides down the shatterdome hallways, in a much better mood with this thought in mind.

 

“Hello Raleigh,” She closes the door behind her “How are you today?”

He shrugs, making a noncommittal noise in his throat as he blinks several times, sits up and stares at her.  “What brings you here?”

She is momentarily taken back by the darkness of his eyes, almost black compared to the blue or grey she’s used to seeing.  She smiles.“I can’t just come down to visit?”

“You could,” he shrugs, “but no one ever does unless we’re both here. Yancy is out, so your visit is for some other reason.” his tone matter of factly.

“You caught me,” admits Caitlin. “Can I stay anyway?”

“Sure.” Raleigh shrugs, then points to a chair.

“Thanks.” Caitlin pulls it a bit closer, sits. “I would like to make you a proposition.”

“Bit soon for that, isn’t it?” he tilts his head.

“Wha—!” Caitlin smacks him with a file. “Is that any way to talk to a coworker?”

Raleigh smirks.

Caitlin shakes her head, leans back. “So, I have a research grant—“

“Shocking.”

“Can it, Becket.” she shakes her head, “as i was saying, I have a research grant that could save lives, help others, improve the world as we know it—“

“That’s typically what they’re for.”

“It’d require no more sacrifice on your part—“

“Is it to look into the solo Drift?”

“Two for two, Becket.” Caitlin laughs weakly. “I can’t imagine what —“

“Does this mean I can’t pilot anymore?”

“It has no bearing on your status or ability to be a Ranger—it’ll only run while Danger’s in the shop.”

“But …?”

“But I can’t speak for Medical.”

Raleigh concedes.

“So …?”

Raleigh settles back, worrying his lower lip.

Caitlin fidgets.

“Who else is participating? You can’t have a study of one, can you?”

“Nothing get by you does it? There is another participant.”

“Who?”

“Ah ha! You don’t get to find that out unless you agree to the study.”

“Really?” He frowns, fiddles with his cap some more. “Talk about playing dirty.”

“Hey! Don’t blame me! It’s all this doctor-patient confidentiality crap.” Huffs. “Anyway, it’s a moot point if you say ‘no’.” she pauses, lets out a small huff  “I want two people for this study.”

“—you, or the Gages … maybe Jessop?” Raleigh ticks the names off on his fingers. “Maybe one of the Drift Shock pilots…? Hmmm”

Caitlin smirks. “If you agree to the study you can find out first hand.”

He squints, suspicion written all over his face. “What are you hiding?”

She looks away, his dark gaze unsettling slightly. She laughs it off, “Hiding?! I’m not _hiding_ anything! You’re welcome to ask questions--besides the one I can’t answer, obviously. What do you want to know?”

“What does it really involve? The study?”

She relaxes into her seat, and regales Raleigh with all the tests and activities she has planned.

 

She answers all his questions in turn, Will Yancy be a part of it too? Does it require me to drift with someone else? his brother would be marginally involved, no he doesn’t have to drift with anyone else, etc.  

Finally when he’s exhausted all his questions she asks again, “So, what do you say? Will you participate? Or want more time to think it over?”

“Hmmm…” he looks away, an unreadable expression on his face.

She sees the hesitation, “You know what, take your time, think it over, okay? You’ve got some time till that arm is better. And Gipsy is still in need of funds for the repairs.” She leaves it off at that. She grabs his shoulder, squeezes gently, “You know how to get ahold of me.” She gets up.

“When?”

Caitlin stops mid turn, “Ideally as soon as possible, but you have a week or so.” she smiles “Think about it,” she shrugs, “Besides I know you’re dying to know who else is participating.” She winks, and a two finger salute, she’s out the door.

 

Well, _not the overwhelming yes she was looking for, but it wasn’t an outright refusal either. She hopes he’ll come around soon._ She’s also afraid that Pentecost might try give her another excuse in order to get away from her study. But she’ll worry about that only if she gets consent from Raleigh.  She crosses her fingers. Maybe superstitions will help her case.

 

Raleigh waits until he’s alone with Priyasha to speak. “Yasha?”

“Yes Raleigh?”

“Would you take place in an experimental study, if you, um,” he stumbles on how to say it.

She taps his back, he straightens it while doing the exercise. “If what?” she prompts.

He exhales slow “I don’t know, she wants to study my brain, I guess. Ugh, why is drift tech so complex.” He gets aggravated.

“Raleigh, breathe, focus on your stretch.” She helps correct his form in a few places. Nods to him, “now, I don’t know what you’re going on about.  If someone asked to study me and it could help others, you best believe I would.”

“Really?” He pulls up from his position.

She rolls her eyes, “focus first!”

He snaps back into the position, reaching for the dropped stretch band.

“Right, much better. Yes I would, really. Does it hurt, or is it detrimental in any way?”

Raleigh chews his lip, “I suppose not.”

“Then what do you have to lose?”

“You make a good point.” he nods.

“But the real question is why are you asking me? Isn’t this something you’d ask your brother about?”

“Well, normally yea…. But,” Raleigh clenches his fist.  “But he’s worrying about something else.”

“What is that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is that because he won’t say or you haven’t asked.”

“Oh,” he looks surprised. “I guess…. I haven’t.”

“Raleigh, remember, just because you’re drift compatible, doesn’t make you mind readers.

“I know that isn’t how it works…”

“Good, now can we get back to the reason we’re here? I’m sure you can work this out with your brother.” she sounds exasperated.

“Wait,” Raleigh stares at her.

“What?”

“Did he say anything to you?” Raleigh looks hopefully at her.

“You’re barking up the wrong tree. 1, I can’t say, patient confidentiality. 2 He’s more closed mouth than a stone, so not much he’s divulged to me other that what hurts him.”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, he’s not nearly as chatty as you are.” She resets his position, “Now back to work”

  


Upon his return to the room.

“Yance… can I talk to you?”

“Of course! What’s on your mind?”

“I had a visitor, while you were out.” He chews his lower lip some.

“Yeah, and?”

Raleigh looks up directly at Yancy and blurts “Lightcap-wants-me-in-a-solo-drift-study.”

Yancy blinks.

Raleigh looks down at his right hand. Clenching it into a fist and relaxing it repeatedly.

“Raleigh.” He waits for his attention. “I can’t tell you what to do. But,” he lets out a long breath, “I’ve been asked to fill in as an instructor at the Academy while Gipsy’s repaired.” Yancy looks to Raleigh then, his shoulders relax down more. “We’d both have something to keep us busy while we wait.” Yancy’s lips quirk up in a half smile.

“Were you… hiding that from me? Is that what’s had you distracted?”

“I” Yancy drops his gaze, “I wasn’t sure I’d take it, I didn’t want to bother you with it.” Yancy’s hands flutter in a circling gesture.

“Yancy, you’re an idiot!”

Yancy blinks, looking dumbfounded.

“Why’re you worrying about me, when we’ve got nothing better to do?! Take the damn position. I doesn’t hurt my feelings that they asked you and not me. Honestly wonder how you brain works when we’re not connected.” Raleigh points from his temple towards Yancy.

“I guess that means it’s settled? You’ll work with Lightcap, and I’ll be at the Academy.”

“Yeah,” Raleigh nods. “And Yance?” He waits for his brother's gaze to return to him, “Don’t ...uhm, alone. We’re in this together. Remember?” He up turns the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah. I’ll try to.”

“That or I’ll tell Jaz and then you’ll get an earful.” He smirks at Yancy.

“Hey! That’s not fair, that’s two against one!”

“Hey it can go both ways you know. She’ll always be on the right side of an argument.”He looks back up to Yancy’s face. Smirking mischievously.

 

* * *

 

**Anchorage Shatterdome**

**Medical bay- Beckets’ room**

**April 5, 2020**

  


Yancy gets more good news they get to leave Medical this week.  No more antiseptic smell, or wheelchair rides, Yancy is happy.  Their quarters were modified slightly so that Yancy and Raleigh could both have a low bed.  Their desks were both packed up.  Yancy is still a little anxious about the Academy.  He’s not sure he’s the right man for the job.  

  


The week passes faster than the preceding week. Maybe it's the prospect of getting some space from the poking and prodding.  They’re both in fair shape and allowed to walk around unhindered, or followed constantly by Medical staff.  Sure they still have PT and psych evals but that is par for the course being a Ranger.  

 

“Well you boys ready for your new, aka old, digs?” Kaida inquires in the super chipper voice she likes to adopt for any good news.  

Yancy looks up from his book. Raleigh pulls his yo yo back up, smile already on his lips. “You betcha! I’ll trade you this cast for being rid of us.” Raleigh raises his left arm with a hopeful smirk on his face.  

Kaida huffs at him, “Well that’s a crappy trade! I’m gonna miss your smiling faces here. Besides you’re getting that cast off in another week or so anyway.” She huffs and pouts at them.

“Oh come on, its not like we won’t be down here half the time anyway.” Yancy chimes in.

“Yeah, still got PT and check ups and all that other unfun stuff.” Raleigh scowls at that.

“Oh I suppose so. But you won’t be my responsibility! Haha Just means I’ll harass you anyway.”

“Like we could get rid of you that easily. Knew this was too good to be true.” Raleigh rolls his eyes.

Yancy looks up to Kaida, “Come on, just let us out of here already.”

“Alright, I’ll get you final sign offs done right now, then you can go back to home sweet stunk.” She holds her nose at the end, making ‘stunk’ sound nasally.

“Oh Come on, our place doesn’t smell.” Yancy taps Raleigh right arm, “Right?”

“I don’t, but I’m not sure the same could be said of your side. Pew!” he too grabs his nose.

“What does that say about you? Hmm, you are stuck living with me.” Yancy smiles.

“Oh, you’re right. Kaida, can I get a new place? Away from Mr. Stink over here?” Raleigh flails a hand Yancy’s direction.

“Sorry Raleigh. You’re stuck, at least until you move to Kodiak.” the nurse shrugs at that, “No idea what the living situation is over there.”

That sobers them both up. “Oh, right.” Raleigh lets his smile drop some.

Sensing the change she waves her hands quickly, “Ummm I’ll just, uh, go get those signatures now. Get you moving to your bunk before lunch!” she quickly retreats from the room.

But the light mood is gone with her.

* * *

 

**Anchorage Shatterdome**

**Becket Quarters**

**April 6, 2020**

 

Raleigh wakes up in a cold sweat, like he’s forgetting something very important.  He looks around the dark room.  He calms his breathing, sees Yancy is still sleeping. He squints at the clock on the Kaiju alert screen, 2:15am.   _No wonder it is so quiet_ .  He stills his breathing a moment more, listening for the sounds of activity.   _Nothing but the humm of electronics, and the creak of pipes settling_.

Raleigh’s system is still filled with adrenaline, _sleeping is out of the question_.  He gets up, shifts into some sweatpants, and carefully squeezes his cast along with the rest of himself into an oversized zip up.  Grabbing his boots he pads out into the hall, pair of socks stuffed into his pocket.  

 

Cool air kisses his face as he steps into the hall. He stuffs his feet into his boots and flicks his hood up against the glare of the lights, then leans against the wall.

It grounds him.

The tension in his chest uncoils a smidge.

He swallows, pushes off and down the hall, fingertips grazing the rough metal. By the time he reaches a junction, breathing comes easier.

 

Not sure where he is going, he keeps walking.  His mind wanders, wishing he dreamt up the last couple of weeks.  Hoping he’ll wake up, his left arm whole, his vision restored.  But here he is, small and broken, with only the love for his brother keeping him level headed some days.  The techniques Priyasha taught him to keep calm play through his mind.  He breathes deeply through his nose to bring his mind back into focus. Tells himself to not get lost in self pity or distracted by the myriad of noises that grab for his attention.  Ignoring greater thoughts, he stays present in the now.  

 

The sound of his own footsteps, the rough metal at his fingertips, the background noises left to be just that, secondary.  He opens his eyes again, focus on the line where the wall and floor meet.  He keeps his gaze down to avoid the brighter lights.  He walks and walks, keeps going until he reaches the end of the hall.  It opens up into the Jaeger bays.  He is surprised how quiet the space is currently.

 

Keeping his pace even, he follows the edge of the room around to the right, until he finds the structure he is so familiar with he no longer needs to see it.  He closes his eyes, relaxes as he climbs the ladder up to the catwalks and peripheral Bay walk ways.  

 

Once at the top he hops off the ladder. He reaches for the guardrail, gets his hand on it and guides himself forward.  Going slowly, he follows the guardrail to an intersection.  At that point he opens his eyes again, peering at the catwalk, trying to discern which junction he is at.  The few safety lights on are dim and far enough away to have almost no effect on his vision.  Recognizing the spot, he crosses the junction to the left, pleased when his footsteps ring solidly on plates instead of the grates.

 

Finding the rail to his right again he relaxes and continues on his journey.  He slows down when he thinks there should be another obstruction, opening his eyes he realizes he’s miscalculated and keeps going forward until he reaches the ladder.  Ascending this one as quickly as he can he makes it to the next level.  

 

He  continues on, until he thinks he might have reached his destination.  A quick glance out into the Jaeger bay confirms it.  He is close, continues a little farther up until he sees the view he was looking for.  There, in her mangled glory is Gipsy Danger, tarps and plates covering up some of her bigger holes.  Her face a sad semblance of her usual self, the normal holding rig has been modified to capture her despite the missing left arm.  Raleigh is far enough away to take in most of her.  Her feet obscured by the rigging and scaffolding the engineers have erected around her.

 

Raleigh leans on the rail for a moment before carefully lowering himself down to a sitting position, his feet dangling over the edge. He slowly gives her the once over.  A sudden sadness grips him, he can’t see her in color.  He closes his eyes, imagines the blues, and reds that adorn her, the yellow of her visor.  He smiles to himself, imagining her whole again.  He relaxes some with the image, it's just like pre drift drills, imagine yourself in the body of a Jaeger.  He breathes out a long slow breath, leans forward onto the intermediate rail.  

He's not sure how long he sits there, imagining it. At some point his legs start to lose feeling and he worries that Yancy'll come looking for him. He slowly makes his way back to their bunk before the morning crews show up to work.  He slips into his bed for another hour of sleep.   


* * *

 

When Yancy wakes up Raleigh is already up.  Not unusual, but it was odd that he was still sitting in bed, one earbud in, the other between his fingers.  It seems to Yan that Rals was glaring at the other ear-bud like it had killed his puppy.  Yancy spoke up, “What’s wrong Raleigh?”

Instantly dropping the ear-bud he faces Yancy, “Huh? Nothin’s wrong, why?”

“Well you were glaring with a vengeance.”

“Huh, oh just lost in thoughts ‘sall.” Then whatever spell it was, broken by the sounds, Raleigh grabs his phone and stuffs the other ear bud into his right ear.  He gets out of bed and is out the door before Yancy can protest or ask him anything else.

 

Yancy is left alone to think.  A cold feeling settles in Yancy’s gut as he thinks about what he and Raleigh are going to do. Despite his best effort to be more optimistic, he is in uncharted territory. _The fear of not getting cleared by Drift science or medical holds a cold grip on his guts._ Logically he knows he could stay on in Loccent, or the academy.  But after being a Jaeger Pilot he can’t imagine not working and living with his brother.  

 

That is why he is fighting this mental battle, does he ask Raleigh what he wants? _Do I make assumptions for us? Will staying around the PPDC be too harsh if we can’t pilot our girl anymore?_  No one has said explicitly that they aren’t going to Jockey anymore. But the insecurity is there because no one has made a definitive call to say they can still pilot.

 

Anxiety crawls up Yancy’s spine like snake, a tingling sensation slowly progressing throughout his body.  He thinks about talking to the other rangers to get ideas, but then he looks over at Rals’ empty bed and he can’t bring himself to so much as utter a peep of it to anyone else.  

 

* * *

 

**Anchorage Shatterdome**

**April 13, 2020**

 

Ilisapie isn’t idle, packing and prep work to be done before her and Zeke transfer to the Academy.  

 

Zeke was going out to the city for the night with some of the crew. She wanted to look over some of her “lesson plans”, so she grabs her notebook and heads down to the mess hall.  There are maybe a dozen people in the place, and the off hour food choices are slim.  But she finds something, heading for a table in the middle when she spots a blonde head in the far corner of the room.  

 

Remembering what Priyasha and Kaida said, she cautiously makes her way over to the pair.  Raleigh has a cap on and his gaze is down at the table, Yancy is sitting across from him.  

“Do you boys mind?”

Yancy and Raleigh both look up at her with a mixture of shock and surprise. They seem to get over the sudden intrusion quickly. “Not at all.” Yancy offers and makes a motion to sit next to him. She does, and digs into her food first before continuing pleasantries. She notices that Raleigh blinks more than normal, or maybe it's just when he looks her way?  

She pulls out her notebook and flips it open. Yancy leans towards it, “What you got there? Are those lessons? You a teacher in addition to being a Ranger?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Someone has to teach the cadets how to be a Ranger!” She feels a little defensive, pulls her book away some.

“Hey I’m not judging, just curious.” He raises both hands in a stopping motion.

Ilisapie’s hackles relax, “Well, yes, this is my lesson plan notes.” She puts the book back on the table where Yancy can see it again.

“Nice, can I take a look?”

“Sure.” She rummages around her pockets for her pen. When she looks back up Yancy is pointing at something, and the next thing she knows she is having a debate back and forth about the merits of a particular teaching point, or when best to demonstrate a method. Yancy seems keenly interested, meanwhile Raleigh has stuck his earbuds in and seems to have zoned out entirely.  

 

That seems odd, she thinks, usually you engage one Becket you get two for your troubles.  Raleigh doesn’t seem to care at all, his food finished, his tray is shoved over and he has his head resting on his arms on the table.  

Yancy seems normal, until he finishes making some point, and looks across to his brother.  Then he quickly excuses himself, “Good luck Lissa, let me know if you want a second opinion on anything.” He stands up, taps his brothers elbow, and Raleigh is up in a flash of movement. A slight nod to Ilisapie is his only acknowledgment of her company. “Catch you later,” Yancy waves, then is glued to his brother’s side on the way out.  

She watches them leave, wondering maybe that kaiju took a little more than just a physical toll on them.  She shakes it off for the moment to finish her notes, taking some of Yancy’s advice and ideas, ignoring some of it too.

Its not until the next day, talking to Zeke over breakfast about yesterday, that she realizes that she hasn’t seen the Beckets in the mess hall, kwoon, or really anywhere in a while.  “When was the last time you saw them?”

Zeke pauses fork halfway to mouth, puts it down, “I saw them… shit, not since I accidentally ran into Yancy in the hall.  That was a week ago. Why?”

 

That is when the thought occurs to her, it was only since their discharge from Medical that they’ve fallen off the grid.  She can’t say exactly what, but they are not like before.

Hmm, “you don’t think it's because they are avoiding us, do you?”

“I doubt that, they didn’t run away when they saw you yesterday did they? I mean not that I would blame them, I’d run from you but I’m stuck,” he taps his temple, “Despite your harsh criticism of them I don’t think they are avoiding us in particular.”

 

Ilisapie exhales, relieved by the sentiment. _I said some rough stuff about them, but seeing them now, I’d take most of it back._

She has run into Yancy maybe a handful of times, Raleigh even less.  Only place they're likely to be found is Medical, or the gym.  They’re never in the mess hall at peak meal times.

 

Ilisapie looks down the table, sees Priyasha and Kaida. She gets up and sits down with them, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.  “Have you seen the Beckets today?”

“Nope, our sessions are in the afternoon.” Priyasha says, her look neutral.

Kaida looks back and forth between Priyasha and Ilisapie. Kaida sounds hesitant, “Um, I think, they’ve, uhm, been busy packing! Yeah.” She perks up, her shoulders relaxing some.

Ilisapie narrows her eyes at the young nurse. “What are you hiding? I just want to make sure they’re ready for Kodiak.” she raises an eyebrow. “Why are you so evasive?”

“Me?! Evasive?! No way!” Kaida shakes her head vehemently.

“Kaida, calm down. You’re gonna hurt yourself.” she turns to Ilisapie. “Lissa,” she sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose. “Because we’re friends, and the Beckets trust me.” she looks up, making eye contact.  “I think your comments and sentiments have circled the shatterdome.”

“Huh?” she is honestly confused.

Kaida chimes in “your thoughts on the Beckets… during Knifehead?”

Ilisapie’s face drops, “That _IS_ still going around?!”

“It’s drama, and you know how gossip loves that.” Priyasha seems really tired of it.

“Baby Becket may’ve found out. And well, he’s not exactly in the best mind space right now…” Kaida trails off.

“Oh shit!” Ilisapie stands up.

Priyasha grabs her hand before she gets away. “Do not go charging into their space and try to force the issue now.” she lets go of Ilisapie’s hand. “You’ll have time for that at the Academy. But, try to be a bit more sensitive of what you say, and to whom. Okay?”

_I don’t wish anything worse on them than they’ve brought on themselves._ _I don’t want to be the reason…. They’re still Rangers, still a part of the PPDC._ She gets an idea… She whips out her phone.

“Who’re you messaging?” Kaida interrupts.

“The one person that can talk sense into the senseless.” She smiles and shoots off a text. 

“Who’re you?” Priyasha looks confused now.

“The other Becket, the one that makes sense.” She smiles as she hears he phone ping with a message.

Priyasha and Kaida looks slightly confused, Ilisapie huffs again, "Jazmine. She'll be able to help sort this whole mess out."

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it to the end please leave comments, questions and feedback. It would make my day! Thanks  
> All headcanon information can be found on my tumblr [Archerybushidokid](http://archerybushidokid.tumblr.com)   
> Always updating with character side ideas, pseudo drift science, time lines, and more.


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